The wife of Ronda town Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab will face trial over charges that she attacked a female lawyer with a baseball bat in a fit of jealousy in March this year.
But the charge is one of slight physical injuries only and not the original charge of frustrated murder.
Prosecutor Rogelio del Prado Jr. remanded to the court the case filed by lawyer Jiecel Tiu against Pearl Ungab after finishing a reinvestigation of the case.
The prosecutor upheld a ruling downgrading the charge to slight physical injuries.
He said there was no sufficient basis to reverse this ruling.
Mrs. Ungab had no intention to harm Tiu, said the prosecutor, and the complainant didn’t present enough evidence to prove otherwise.
“It is undeniable that the manner of the attack was fueled by pure hatred by the accused (Mrs. Ungab) and jealousy blinded her judgement,” said the prosecutor in his reinvestigation report to Judge Grace Veloso-Fernandez of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 8.
Considering Mrs. Ungab’s social status as an “educated vice mayor’s wife, a mother, and an angry wife,” the prosecutor said it was highly unlikely for the wife to commit murder in front of many people.
Mrs. Ungab and Tiu had a verbal confrontation in the parking lot of Centro Maximo where the lawyer holds office.
It got physical with Mrs. Ungab allegedly chased the lawyer, rammed her car and hit Tiu with a baseball bat after a car chase in barangay Cogon last February 26.
The wife suspected Tiu of having an affair with her husband, Vice Mayor Ungab, an accusation the lawyer denied.
Tiu and the vice mayor were former law office partners.
Tiu’s original complaint of frustrated homicide was reduced to slight physical injuries by Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas who said the wife showed “no intention to kill”.
Tiu suffered a hematoma or deep bruise in the left ear, left shoulder, left knee and hand, aside from scratches and cuts.
The court ordered the prosecutors’ office to conduct a reinvestigation of the case upon the request of Tiu and her lawyers.
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