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06/18/2006 10:19:36 AM · #1 |
This post is in reference to this story about the slaying of Rosita Sarien which occured just a few days before this thread was opened.
QC 'chop-chop' case solved
The Quezon City police said Saturday that the grisly killing of a 26-year-old woman was solved after the suspect surrendered to the police and confess to the crime, TV Patrol World reported.
The suspect, Grace Aboyador, was brought to the Quezon City Police District headquarters by Tagbilaran, Bohol Mayor Danilo Lim. Aboyador surrendered to the mayor after returning to the province Thursday.
Aboyador, an overseas Filipino worker, claimed self defense in the killing of Rosita "Jing-jing" Sarin, 26, also an OFW, whose chopped up body parts were found Thursday morning in a suitcase that was left in a taxi.
Police said Aboyador and Sarin had an argument Wednesday night at the suspect's apartment in Project 3. Aboyador confronted Sarin for spreading talk that she was having an affair. Aboyador said the rumor led to the break-up with her husband in April.
Police said at the height of their fight, Sarin grabbed a knife but the suspect parried the thrust. During the struggle, Aboyador stabbed Sarin.
Aboyador said she tried to put Saren's body in a suitcase but the bag was small so she had to cut the body up.
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This story showed up last night on a national news website. The victim left Taiwan sometime in this past week (Tuesday or Wednesday). The killing appears to have happened on Wednesday evening and well the rest of the timeline is in the article. Aboyador is currently in the custody of the police. 6 knives and an axe have been held as evidence, having been used to cut up the body.
I read this article on Saturday night.
Now I knew this girl a little bit. Not terribly well I will admit... My sister knew her a bit better, and a few of my other Pinoy friends were also quite a bit closer to her.
Without saying anything further about her or her personality, I would like to know if anyone else sees anything odd about the way the article has been written. I want to know if I am being overly critical of the article because I knew the victim and am shocked by the situation overall.
Bring me down to earth here...
Thanks!
If this thread gets moved to RANT, I will understand. |
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06/18/2006 10:36:36 AM · #2 |
Link leads to an "article can not be found" marker...
R.
Found a cached version via google, but it's no longer live. I see that the first part of your post is the cached article verbatim, so that's good...
I'm not sure what you're reacting to here? It seems pretty straightforward, if sort of bare bones. Am I missing something?
R.
//tinyurl.com/s7q22
Message edited by author 2006-06-18 10:41:26.
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06/18/2006 10:42:01 AM · #3 |
Thanks bear...
The content of the article is posted in my original message...
I wonder if they removed it because of my comments...
I would still like to see if anyone else thinks I am being unbalanced in taking issue with it?
EDIT: Got the addendum to the first post...
It is precisely that which I am wondering... I don't want to say what I took issue with so I don't bias others to my view of the article... I just want to see what others who are reading this as just a news article think when they read it...
Thanks again.
Message edited by author 2006-06-18 10:45:41. |
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06/18/2006 10:43:44 AM · #4 |
see addendum to my first post...
R.
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06/18/2006 11:14:43 AM · #5 |
| Do you mean that the article leaves one with the impression that both girls were equally at fault, perhaps even that the dead girl had it coming, even though she ended up in bits in a suitcase? Thats what I get from the story. |
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06/18/2006 11:20:36 AM · #6 |
it just seems to me to be an unemotional reporting of the facts as they know them to be.
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06/18/2006 11:21:33 AM · #7 |
This is the part I'm doubtful about:
"Police said at the height of their fight, Sarin grabbed a knife but the suspect parried the thrust. During the struggle, Aboyador stabbed Sarin."
Did police really say that? Or did Aboyador say that? Sounds more like the latter. |
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06/18/2006 11:23:32 AM · #8 |
I see a very bare-bones news article that says two people got in an argument over a personal matter, that the victim grabbed a knife and a scuffle ensued, that in the scuffle the victim got killed, that the killer then cut her into pieces to fit her in a suitcase and left her in a taxicab, that the killer later turned herself in, and that the killer's attorney is claiming self defense.
I don't see any editorializing here. It's an appalling story, of course. It's going to be hard to fly with self defense since the body was dismembered and stashed in a suitcase, but I don't see any "hidden" implication in the story, just the reporting of the facts as known.
R.
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06/18/2006 11:26:10 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by posthumous:
This is the part I'm doubtful about:
"Police said at the height of their fight, Sarin grabbed a knife but the suspect parried the thrust. During the struggle, Aboyador stabbed Sarin."
Did police really say that? Or did Aboyador say that? Sounds more like the latter. |
One would presume that Aboyador had defensive wounds from "parrying the thrust", and that a police reconstruction of the incident is where that comment was drawn from... That's the way it OUGHT to be, anyway. If the police are being quoted, presumably there's a preliminary police report that spawned the quote...
R.
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06/18/2006 11:30:24 AM · #10 |
| That's the only thing I noticed, too- "police say this happened", not "police say the suspect claims this happened". |
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06/18/2006 11:31:06 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
One would presume that Aboyador had defensive wounds from "parrying the thrust", and that a police reconstruction of the incident is where that comment was drawn from... That's the way it OUGHT to be, anyway. If the police are being quoted, presumably there's a preliminary police report that spawned the quote...
R. |
Even so, there's way to know who grabbed a knife first. It sounds to me like somebody is being presumptuous, either the reporter or the police. |
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06/18/2006 11:32:12 AM · #12 |
I don't see anything odd in the story...
but now it's your turn to tell us what you see. I'm very curious. |
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06/18/2006 11:43:47 AM · #13 |
I'd have to agree with you Bear. I just don't see "self-defense" when the alleged killer chops up the person into pieces.
Damn Filipinos!
*and before you start emailing me, I'm Filipino and I'm just being facetious* |
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06/18/2006 12:24:14 PM · #14 |
Interesting to see your reactions....
Thanks BeeCee and Posthumous...
Those were precisely the things that jumped out at me too...
Normally when reading these sorts of stories, it's all preceeded by an accreditation of who made the claim...
The last three statements in the story twigged my eye...
All three statements appear to favor the assailant...
Indeed, they all appear to be a recantation of things from Aboyador's confession.
#1 Police said Aboyador and Sarin had an argument Wednesday night at the suspect's apartment in Project 3. Aboyador confronted Sarin for spreading talk that she was having an affair. Aboyador said the rumor led to the break-up with her husband in April.
Seems fairly put, with proper accreditation in each sentence, but the first sentence doesn't seem like it should be together with the next. The first sentence is the words of the Police. The second sentence appears to be the words of Aboyador.
Putting them together like that seems odd. It adds credence to Aboyador's words... Indeed, later forum activity on the news site confirmed that general readers viewed those two sentences as facts that have been confirmed by the Police.
Considering that Sarin has been in Taiwan for the last three years and only returned to the Philippines one or two days before the killing, it is highly doubtful that the Police have confirmed this statement.
On the other hand, Aboyador has been in the Philippines somewhat longer, so this suggests that these rumors may even be hearsay, barely admissible in court.
#2 Police said at the height of their fight, Sarin grabbed a knife but the suspect parried the thrust. During the struggle, Aboyador stabbed Sarin.
This is what bothered me the most. This statement is odd considering the fact that only three days had elapsed since the discovery of a body, and that Aboyador apparently surrendered herself on Saturday, the same day the story was posted.
I don't pretend for a second that this couldn't possibly have occured.
I have a great deal of difficulty swallowing the fact that the Police could have made this statement. It seems MUCH more likely that this is Aboyador's version of the events and the words have been mistakenly accredited to the Police.
As mentioned by PostH, even defensive wounds on Aboyador could have occured any number of ways in a struggle, and at any point in the timeline.
I'm mostly critical of this because I don't believe that enough time has passed to get this from any actual evidence. It seems much more likely that this is mostly coming from statements about the crime.
What twigs me even further is that there is no mention of eye witnesses.
After reading this article, I was left with the feeling that the two girls struggled alone. Of the only two people who can provide an eyewitness account, one is unable to speak. Nobody knows where her mouth is right now. However, the one girl who is still alive appears to be allowed the freedom to spread her version of what happened to the world.
It is interesting that 8 hours after I posted my strong concerns in the forums regarding this, the article was removed. Another reader from Australia mentioned that this sort of reporting would probably see a lawsuit where he was from...
I just wanted a bit of a sanity check because I was quite upset by the way the story was written...
Sure, it's possible that there was an argument. And it's possible that things got violent between them. Either one could have escalated things.
A few things that aren't mentioned are the fact that they had been friends in Taiwan (no surprise). Sarien had only very recently arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday, and had not yet returned to her family's home in the South Islands. As such, she was carrying most of her more valuable belongings (the Filipino custom is to send a 'balikbayan box' of their clothes and things instead of packing large peices of luggage) on her. She must have been invited to Aboyador's home for some reason... presumably she wouldn't have come over just to have a fight, but you never know...
She died in Aboyador's place of accomodation.
Another interesting development is the absence of her money.
It is common practice (and well known by filipinos who have been Overseas Filipino Workers [OFWs]) for employers in Taiwan to with-hold a certain portion of the pay each month as a form of 'insurance' against runaway workers.. This money is usually given only on the very last day and is usually provided in cash... After three years, the sum is quite significant and usually represents a rather sizeable chunk of 3 years of income... There is seldom time for them to remit the money (usually a good hour at the bank... during banking hours... and minus a percentage... a percentage that is usually larger than westerners like myself would pay sending money to Canada), as they are sometimes given the money at the airport, or on the way. Sometimes, just for fun, the broker just sends them on their way empty-handed with the threat of being arrested for being in Taiwan without a visa after having missed their flight... But that's another story....
The relevant point is though that Sarien DID have a significant chunk of cash on her.
She was supposed to send the cash to the bank as soon as she got to the Philippines.
It never got there... and has not turned up yet...
Very suspicious.
Additionally, I will point out that I have seen video footage of Aboyador currently in custody. I could not understand the Tagalog newscast, but she did not appear injured in any way...
Grace is significantly larger than Jing Jing. Grace is quite 'substantial' in size, probably roughly similar to my weight class. Jing Jing was very small and slight. Not even 5 feet tall and skinnier than my little sister. Probably under 100lbs. I would say - extremely diminutive in stature.
Sure, she might have grabbed a knife in the kitchen, but would she have done it to try to start a knife fight with a woman twice her size? And done so merely about an issue regarding her reputation?
Well, I hope the courts make some good decisions about that once they have all the facts...
Thanks for the opinions guys, I'm glad I wasn't just picking an argument that wasn't really there because I felt angry.
Message edited by author 2006-06-18 12:34:15. |
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