Swedish national accused of trafficking jumps off vessel, dead
A Swedish national accused of human trafficking died after he jumped off a vessel about five nautical miles or 900 meters to the port of Sta Fe, Bantayan Island shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Walter Hauck was brought to Bogo City Regional Trial Court branch 61 in mainland Cebu to attend a court hearing with another prisoner identified as Ricky Desabille, said Bantayan District Jail warden Inspector Manuel dela Peña.
After the court hearing, Hauck and Desabille whose hands were jointly handcuffed, were brought back to Bantayan Island through LCT Island II from Hagnaya port in San Remegio to Sta Fe in Bantayan Island.
Philippine Coast Guard Cebu Station commander Agapito Bibat said a report from their Coast Guard detachment in Sta Fe showed that Hauck asked permission to use the vessel’s rest room while the vessel was headed to the port of Sta. Fe.
The escort jailguard identified as JO1 Efren Manzanares took off Hauck’s handcuff only to be surprised when Hauck ran and jumped off the vessel’s tail portion to the sea.
Bibat said the vessel’s crew also witnessed that Hauck’s head hit a portion of the vessel before he crashed into the waters at 2:50 p.m. Manzanares asked the ship’s s crew to stop and rescue Hauck.
Inspector dela Peña said it was Manzanares himself who dived to the sea and found the dead body of Hauck floating at 3:15 p.m.
When the vessel docked at 3:30 p.m., Hauck was immediately brought to Bantayan District Hospital in Bantayan town but was declared dead on arrival by attending physician Dr Delfin Jake Malazarte.
Insp. dela Peña said he already ordered an investigation as to why Manzanares removed the handcuffs from Hauck when it’s not allowed.
Dela Peña said the Bureau of Jail of Management of Penology (BJMP) in the region is also expected to investigate the incident.
Hauck was arrested in 2014 in Sta Fe town for human trafficking involving five boys but dela Peña said he has no complete facts of the case as the Swedish National was just committed there after he was charged in court in 2015.
The Bantayan District Jail is located in Bantayan town, one of the three towns of Bantayan Island. The other towns are Sta Fe and Madridejos.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
