THE Cagayan de Oro City Prosecutor's Office (CPO) has found probable cause to charge all five suspects in the killing of Cherrymae Dayo with robbery with homicide aggravated by rape charges.
The CPO did not recommend the suspects be allowed to post bail.
In a resolution penned by Assistant City Prosecutor Hosni Guiling, the suspects Warren Amarga, 24, Joel Jonson, 22, Angel Mae Rada, 22, Joan Escalante, 18 and the 17-year-old minor were found equally liable for the crimes.
"All of them are equally liable because the act of one in the conspiracy is deemed to be the act of all," City Prosecutor Merlyn Uy said.
Uy said the suspects have been transferred to the City Jail in Lumbia village following the issuance of a commitment order.
"There was circumstantial evidence pointing to their accountability,” Uy said, adding that the circumstantial evidence matched with the accounts of eyewitnesses.
Uy explained they filed robbery with homicide aggravated by rape charges because the victim was killed in the course of robbery, which was the original plan of the suspects with the commission of rape being an aggravating circumstance.
"On the occasion of the robbery, the victim was killed in the process. However, she was also raped so homicide and rape co-exist in the commission of the robbery," Uy said.
The prosecutor also confirmed that Amarga was assisted by lawyer Alejandro Jose Pallugna when he submitted his affidavit of confession containing his admission of the crime at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 14.
In his affidavit, Amarga admitted that they planned robbing the house of the late city councilor Mending Balinado, where the victim was serving as a caretaker, because they knew the victim was alone in the house.
In a departure from his previous statements, Amarga said all five of them climbed over the fence but it was only him who went inside the house.
Amarga said he passed the stolen items like the laptop, mobile phone, and assorted clothes to the other four suspects waiting outside the house.
Amarga admitted that he raped the victim first and stabbed her only after the latter began fighting back.
Uy said she is confident they can demonstrate the guilt of the suspects even without Amarga's affidavit of confession.
The police had recommended the filing of two separate charges for rape with homicide and robbery against the suspects during the inquest proceedings on Monday, March 13.
Following the lynching of the suspects by a mob that gathered outside the City Prosecutor's Office Monday, one of the female suspects, Escalante was reported to have suffered a miscarriage.
Senior Inspector Maricris Mulat, Divisoria Police Station chief, said a hospital-administered pregnancy test on Escalante revealed she was only having a monthly period.
Mulat said Rada, the other female suspect, is three months pregnant but is otherwise unharmed.
