CATBALOGAN, Samar
– Despite the assurance of Congressman Catalino Figueroa
to help the family of Candice Janine Paulin, the minor which was found
dead inside the burned Lester Lace Grocery Store, via an in-dept
investigation thru the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Mary
Jean Paulin, the mother, accused the NBI here of partial and biased
treatment of her daughter’s case.
In a signed statement
of Mrs. Paulin obtained by this writer, it was learned that Janine’s
family went to the NBI office on November 20, 2006 to check on the
status of the NBI investigation over their daughter’s death.
“But we were
disappointed and dismayed because they (NBI) treated us badly and
without respect, they told us that our daughter was a thief and was
looting in the said grocery store during the fire incident”, she
informed.
However, the NBI
allegedly wasn’t able to come up with a proof that Janine was inside
the burning store because of thievery, and that she was trapped inside
the burning grocery store causing her death.
In the same
circumstance, Dr. Felino C. Gualdrapa of the Samar Provincial Hospital
(SPH) here likewise implied that the NBI was allegedly misleading him
during the conduct of the autopsy of the victim’s cadaver on November
15, 2006.
In his signed
statement, Dr. Gualdrapa narrated that he received a note coming from
Mayor Tekwa Uy of Catbalogan, requesting that an autopsy be made on
Janine’s body, but he was hesitant because he was the on-duty
physician at that time in the SPH.
But Dr. Gualdrapa
reconsidered when a certain Wakie Cui called him up and told they will
assist in the autopsy examination together with Dr.Teddy Yboa of the
NBI Manila. The autopsy was conducted inside the Samar Memorial Chapel
(SMC) morgue.
“Even at the start, I
already noticed that Dr. Yboa of the NBI was already misleading me in
evaluating the cadaver, I never liked it but to avoid conflict and
confrontation I remained silent out of professional courtesy”, Dr.
Gualdrapa disclosed.
Dr. Gualdrapa informed
that the NBI medico-legal allegedly concentrated only on the degree of
burns and did not evaluate the obvious deformities particularly on the
face where according to Dr. Gualdrapa, the bridge was deformed
possibly caused by a mechanical pressing of the nose of the victim to
the point that no air can pass into the lungs.
In the same instance,
Dr. Yboa also allegedly tried to mislead him in describing the gastric
contents of the cadaver to light brown fluid to show that the victim
inhaled smoke, but Dr. Gualdrapa insisted that the gastric fluid found
was light greenish in color manifesting that no carbon was inhaled by
the victim.
“Another point I
cannot agree on was that Dr. Yboa insisted that the cadaver was still
a virgin, and that she only had notches and not lacerated wounds, but
when I examined the cadaver, she had hymenal lacerated wounds already
healed, meaning the victim was no longer a virgin”, Dr. Gualdrapa
added.
Not contented by the
NBI autopsy and bothered by his conscience, Dr. Gualdrapa returned for
a second autopsy of the cadaver, and this time without the NBI and
yielded with a concrete report.
“In my second autopsy,
I did confirm that the body was already dead when she burned, and I
issued a certification to that effect because the cause of death was
asphyxiation by suffocation or choking to stop passage of air from the
nose or mouth. If she died because of the fire, her cause of death
should have been carbon monoxide poisoning, which is impossible
because the autopsy revealed that there were no traces of carbon in
her lungs”, Dr. Gualdrapa disposed.
He added that Janine
was already dead for not less than three hours before she was burned.
On the other hand, the
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) here led by P/Insp.
Fernando Ferrer likewise told in his signed statement that the theory
of thievery by the NBI as being alleged by the parents of the victim
was not supported by evidence.
Ferrer also noted that
the autopsy report of Dr. Yboa of the NBI contained a brief summary
only and indicated no physical injuries despite allegedly of several
apparent physical injuries on the cadaver.
“That is why I
requested for a re-autopsy of the body, this time with the PNP crime
laboratory, which was conducted by Dr. Angel Cordero”, Ferrer told.
“Through my experience
as an investigator, I noticed some details will lead us to conclude
that a foul play was evident, we are not buying the theory of thievery
here because it of human nature that a child in distress trapped
inside a burning establishment will become hysterical, will knock on
the doors and will shout for help as loud as she can. But in this
case, the body of the victim when found as shown in pictures, was laid
down as if she was relaxed and was not even bothered by the fire,
which is contrary to the theory of self-preservation”, he concluded.
