Habal driver wants deeper probe into daughter’s death

A motorcycle-for-hire (habal-habal) driver is asking for an  investigation into the death of his 9-year-old daughter whose body was found  in a river where she went swimming in barangay Binaliw, Cebu City last month.

Joey Codeniera on Tuesday went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) to seek help.

Joey said he suspected foul play in his daughter’s  death because of bruises found in different parts of the body.

A scribble purportedly giving clues as to what happened to a nine-year-old girl who was found dead in a river in barangay Binaliw, Cebu City last month. (CDN PHOTO APPLE MAE TA-AS)

He also showed scribblings in his daughter’s  notebook which the family believes holds supernatural clues about her death.

Jiecel was found in a shallow portion of the river where she and  classmates went swimming last October  22.

The parents said they were not convinced by the  autopsy findings by the  PNP Crime Laboratory-7 showing that the girl drowned.

“She was killed.  I don’t believe she  drowned,” Joey told reporters in Cebuano yesterday.  He said there were suspicious wounds in her face and feet.

Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, chief of CIDG-7, said the girl’s body may be exhumed for further examination.

Tayaba said they visited the area last week where Jiecel was found dead.

“The water is too shallow. It is impossible for the kid to drown there or for the body to be recovered upstream,” he said.

Investigators are looking for possible witnesses to give sworn statements.

Tayaba said he may confer with medico-legal officers to explain why the girl had wounds in her face and arms.

Joey said he had been asking his dead daughter for signs to reveal  how she died.

A day after her funeral,  the girl’s uncle, Marlon Colina, said they found two notebooks of the grade 4 student under strange circumstances.

Colina said a cold wind  woke up the family  at dawn seven days after Jiecel’s body was found.

“When we looked around, we noticed that her school bag was  already open when it was closed the last time I checked. We were surprised that the bag including the notebooks were wet when it was left in her classroom,” Colina said.

The girl’s relatives pointed to the second to the last page of one notebook with child-like scrawls whose lines they said  indicate a river with an “x” mark.

Joey said they believe the “x” marked  the spot where the  girl was killed. The drawing also showed a woman washing clothes in the river.

They said markings “#11” and “#12” could also be an indication of the time the incident happened.

The sketch also depicted two men  labeled “bad.”

The words  “mama, hay ma, I love you Ma, Maaaa!”” also appeared in the page.

In a separate page were names of some of the girl’s classmates listed under the  word “bad.” Joey confirmed that it was his daughter’s penmanship.

Based on the initial police inquiry, Jiecel  went with classmates to the river to swim during their lunch break.

After taking a dip, the classmates left ahead  to avoid being caught late by the teacher.  Jiecel was left alone.

Her classmates went back to look for  Jiecel but  couldn’t find her. The two girls were later told by  60-year-old Jose Baguio, a resident, that Jiecel was  found unconscious in a shallow part of the river.

Barangay tanods  brought Jiecel to the Cebu City Medical Center where she was declared dead.