The Killers of Ruth Bago

Chapter 5: Yohan's Parents

Yohan .

"Ever since I started f*****g Ruth, I never f****d anyone anymore except her. Love?" Evan laughed at the recording. "I don't know. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I think I just wanna f**k her all day and I wanna see her crying because of me... .

"I once dreamt of her bursting with lust while chopping her limbs. I wanna see her cry and cry until she pleads me for her life. Of course, I don't wanna end her life that easily. I wanna see her lifeless body fully consumed with lust and pain. I wanna let her die in the longest way to receive pain. I wanna sustain that until I see no good from her. .

"I just wanna clear things up, fantasies do really exist. And I wanna end up killing her with those fantasies. Those were my dreams for her before she died. Well... I did kill her, didn't I?" .

****

Evan Tan stood confidently in front of the reporters as they gradually approached him. He was just outside the police station as Jonathan and Samantha dela Vega were handcuffed, both in their prisoner's shirt while evading the flashes of cameras from the media. .

After he had extracted some information from the couple, they eventually surrendered and wanted to be in trial for Robert's death. They pressured him into saying that he was the one to kill his own daughter and not Johanne. .

Looking back at the alibis, it made Evan think that Johanne was playing hide and seek in the court. He knew the court wouldn't give him a Guilty verdict for his confidence, especially that he's still buying time to collect evidence. Such a crime of passion was not fit for Johanne's terms. .

There are things Evan wanted to clear and that's why he decided to make the case in public. No one expected it to happen. He had no choice since he had found something very unusual with the alibis given by the couple versus Johanne's alibis.

The reporters began to question him. "Prosecutor Tan, is it true that the Dela Vegas pressured the victim's father to own Yohan's fault?"

"Is it true that Yohan killed a woman?"

Those were the questions they threw at him. Evan was not used to answering the media's questions since he never got the chance to be in the spotlight. It would've been reasonable if Mika was the one being interviewed but since Robert's demise, she didn't give him a call.

Mika must've been hurt and continuously blaming him for not protecting Ruth's father.

Evan was ashamed. He doesn't want to involve himself personally to anyone among the questionable personalities in Ruth's case.

Oscar was there at his side. He just nodded at him.

Evan was about to answer the questions when suddenly, Johanne showed up with a handcuff as well. His request for an inquest proceeding was finally approved for Johanne's capture. He'll have 15 days to collect strong evidence for Johanne's final verdict after the cross-examination. He was given this time to wrap up the case smoothly, but unfortunately, he had other plans on his mind. The jury will probably scold him for running into a trial by the media. But he doesn't have any choice anymore. If he couldn't drag the media in the case, he'll end up losing track of it, especially if the laid evidence was not solid enough to prove Johanne's guilt of the crime.

Johanne saw his parents wearing the same shirt he has. His colors flushed from his face and looked at Evan with disgust. He was about to approach him with anger but the policemen with him were fast enough to corner and punch him in the face.

"You f*****g do this to my parents. You f*****g bastard! You fucker!" Johanne shouted at the top of his lungs. He started to cry as he had seen his parents crying as well. "Mom, why? Why did you do it? Why?" .

"I'm sorry, honey. We know you didn't kill her. We know that. Why are you doing this to yourself?" Samantha cried to his son.

Before Johanne could say anything, he was dragged away from his parents.

****

The cross-examination has finally started and Evan was there standing in front of Johanne on a cubicle in the courtroom.

"Aside from your s****l relationship with Ruth, what was your motive in killing her, Mr. Dela Vega? Was there any heavy motive such as life-threatening instances that made you do it?" Evan asked him.

"I killed her because she was a witch," Johanne answered sarcastically.

"I move to strike that answer as non-responsive to my question and request the court to instruct the jury to disregard it," Evan stated.

Johanne laughed childishly and the audience started to whisper.

"Last question..." Evan said again. "Did you abuse her right before you killed her? Yes or no?"

"I did. It was f*****g fantastic!" Johanne laughed again.

"Profanities!" Judge Frederico shouted while knocking the gavel on the wooden platform on his table.

When Johanne stopped laughing, Evan looked around the room. He saw Mika avoiding his gaze and beside her was one of Ruth's sisters, Riza.

Evan began to show a series of pictures flashing on the white screen. "This is the result of Johanne's examination, including physical and mental examinations," he uttered. "In this result, we have seen a very disturbing truth. We gathered other documents from their family doctor and saw that it matched the results."

The courtroom was filled with gasps as soon as Johanne's picture flashed on the screen. The picture showed a different Johanne in his straitjacket, a jacket only used by mental institutes for patients that are violent.

"We've come to know that Johanne dela Vega is a former patient from a mental health institute four years ago," Evan revealed to the whole courtroom.

The courtroom was filled with shocked voices gasping about the picture showing on the white screen. The audience started to loudly express their disbelief.

"Objection, your honor!" Atty. Pamela Juson shouted, Johanne's lawyer, and stood up from her seat. "This has nothing to do with the case. That information is invalid for the recent tests that showed he's mentally healthy. We've already sent a sworn affidavit regarding this issue. This should be disregarded!"

"How would you justify s*x addiction? Is it not a mental health disorder to you?" Evan butted in.

"Your honor, my client has been nothing but honest since the day he was questioned in the court. What was the purpose of the picture? To demean him of his past? This is seriously not helping the case," Juson reasoned out again.

"Your honor?" Evan looked at Judge Frederico and waited for him to answer.

"Sustained! Prosecutor Tan, please lay the evidence briefly and state the relevance with the case," he demanded.

"Thank you, your honor." Evan smiled and faced the audience again.

In his peripheral view, Atty. Juson frustratingly eyed him while returning to her seat.

"Based on the recent mental health examination result of Mr. Johanne dela Vega, it clearly stated that he has hypersexuality disorder or what others call it as s*x addiction. And that's not just the case. We also found out that he takes abusive drugs such as cocaine and m*******a continuously for 4 years.

"This is his alibi and this is a strong reason for killing Ruth, for not giving him his fantasies and desires as a man. That alone was his alibi and it's not giving us the perfect gravity.

"If it's just a homicide, why was the crime scene almost clean and free from fingerprints of the culprit? Why is it that the alleged knife used in murdering Ruth was cleaned and looks good as new? Why is it that suddenly, Mr. Dela Vega suddenly showed up and claimed in this court that he killed her?

If you are telling us the truth, Mr. Dela Vega, why is it that you can't answer my questions directly? Is it because you admit today that you're mentally incapacitated to answer my questions? Is that correct, Mr. Dela Vega?"

"Y-yes..." Johanne replied.

"And do you agree that you murdered her while you're in the influence of drugs?"

"Y-yes..."

"Then, explain to me this..." Evan suddenly clicked on the Bluetooth remote for the projector and there flashed on the screen a video of Johanne and Robert in a dark street.

All eyes were glued on it.

In the video, Johanne was laughing while standing right in front of Robert. Robert, on the other hand, got busy punching a dude. The videographer laughed and ordered Robert to keep up while Johanne was smiling and laughing.

When the video stopped, Evan stared at the audience. "This video was captured on September 19th, the exact night of which Ruth Bago was murdered. There are few witnesses who can justify that Mr. Johanne dela Vega was up all night on that street 40 kilometers away from the crime scene and that it's impossible to do such murder," Evan stated. He paced again in the opposite direction and spoke again. "This leads to another question, your honor, for Johanne dela Vega, the proud culprit of Ruth Bago." He looked in Johanne's trembling eyes intently. "Who do you think was Ruth's killer? Are you still going to tell this court that you killed her despite the obvious evidence? Who are you protecting?"

Evan has seen fear in Johanne's eyes as he looks back. His eyes now showed confusion and sadness.

Was there a glitch to him again? Why would a culprit be confused about his own alibis? Was he really the murderer?

"Objection, your honor!" shouted, Atty. Juson, who stood up again. "He has a lot of questions for my client and I suggest he refrain from pressuring a mentally incapacitated person. This is nonsense!"

The continuous sound of the gavel being hit to the wooden platform was all Evan could hear until the sound diminished into an inaudible sound in his ears. He looked at the shocked face of Mika with his reasoning.

A sudden flash of memories reappeared in Evan's mind...

Evan put the recorder on the table in front of the Dela Vega couple. His hands intertwined with each other horizontally placed up to his arms on the table as he leaned forward to look more closely at the two. Oscar, on the other hand, sat on a chair by the door of the secluded room.

"Did Johanne dela Vega, your son, kill Ruth Bago?" Evan asked in a low tone of voice.

"No. No, he didn't. He never killed a woman or any man before. We know that," answered, Samantha.

Evan creased his forehead and looked at her. "Is there any proof to support your statement? Can you prove his innocence?"

"Yes, we do. We have the CCTV footage with us. We just couldn't give it to the court since he gravely threatened to end his life if we dare to say the truth," Jonathan said.

"What was his reason for doing this?"

Samantha shook her head. "We don't know. I'm losing my head trying to figure out his reasons. I don't think he's in his right mind right now. I just want him back here." Samantha whimpered and cried...

"Overruled! Adjourned!" Judge Frederico announced as his gavel made the sound of a thud.

The bailiff stood up in front of the audience and shouted, "All rise!" The people stood up and waited for the judge to come down.

Evan sighed as the court finished the trial for this day. Mika suddenly approached him as he wiped his beads of sweat on his forehead.

"What was that all about, Evan? What's wrong with you? The court might dismiss you for handling the case!" she yelled.

"I know what I'm doing."

She exasperatedly sighed. "You're not getting it. You might lose this!"

"And what do you propose? Just let the defendant do what he wants? I have the evidence and I'll request another cross-examination. It's still early to condemn him." Evan grabbed his bag and a bottle of water before coming outside of the court. He sensed Mika was still following him.

"You know that's impossible! The court has moved to the trial. We can't examine Johanne further."

Evan stopped and faced Mika. "Even if they proceed, this case is f*****g long. You think Johanne's responsible for Ruth's death? Prove me wrong!"

"My client was dead because of him!"

Evan just stared into her eyes full of anger and sadness. He wished he could stop himself from saying harsh things and just let her be. He couldn't be like Mika who's personally attached to the case. He was not meant to be kind at all. Not with someone like Johanne.

"I wish you knew how important it is to me to see you okay. I couldn't afford to see you fall with this case. This is very crucial. Ruth's case is everywhere being spoken about. Everyone's eager to see this case rolling and punish whodunnit. You can't just fall apart like that."

****

Evan thought deeply at Mika's words when the evening came. He got a call from the judge and it was confirmed that he cannot keep the cross-examination for long. He's only given 40 days to collect final evidence that will strongly point at Johanne dela Vega. He heard they were aiming for reclusion perpetua for the crime of passion plus another degree higher for s****l abuse. But he couldn't support them with it.

It was the call Evan was waiting for. He needed to break off from the pressure he's feeling. Looking back at it now, he has a couple of weeks to prepare for the next trial. By that time, he has to find solid evidence to prove his verdict that Johanne was not guilty and in any case, not the real culprit.

The real one might be out there somewhere laughing at how the trial court can convict a guy who's innocent in all angles.

-to-be-continued-