A Taguig court yesterday meted life imprisonment on businessman Cedric Lee, model Deniece Cornejo and two others after they were found guilty in the serious illegal detention with ransom case filed by television host-actor Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro.
Also convicted and sentenced to reclusion perpetua by Branch 153 of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court are Ferdinand Guerrero and Simeon Raz.
“This court hereby finds accused Deniece Millinette Cornejo, Cedric Lee, Ferdinand Guerrero and Simeon Palma Raz guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of serious illegal detention for ransom, defined and punished under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and hereby sentences them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua,” the court said.
Navarro’s lawyer Alma Malonga said Cornejo and Raz who are present in court for the sentencing were immediately committed, while the court issued warrants against Lee and Guerrero.
They can still appeal their conviction.
The court also cancelled their bail bond.
Aside from imprisonment, the court also ordered them to jointly and severally pay P 300, 000 in civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages.
“All monetary awards shall earn legal interest rates of six percent per annum from the finality of judgment until fully paid,” the court added.
Last year, the Court of Appeals junked the petition of Lee questioning its October 2022 decision affirming the ruling of the Taguig RTC which denied his motion to dismiss the case filed by Navarro.
The CA said Lee’s petition has no merit.
In dismissing Lee’s motion to junk the case, the appellate court in its October 2022 ruling held that the Taguig RTC did not abuse its discretion or acted in excess of its jurisdiction to warrant an annulment of its order denying the motion.
To recall, Lee and his group were accused of holding Navarro captive and inflicting serious physical injuries against him on January 22, 2014.
Lee allegedly beat up Navarro and threatened to kill the actor if he failed to pay them P2 million.
Navarro said he agreed to pay half of the amount in exchange for his freedom.
Cornejo had alleged that Navarro raped her inside her condominium unit in Taguig’s Bonifacio Global City on the said date.
In 2018 and 2020, the Department of Justice affirmed the dismissal of Cornejo’s complaints against Navarro.
However, the appellate court in July 2022 reversed the dismissal.
Navarro then surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation and in November 2022 was transferred to the Taguig City Jail, where he remained until December of that year after he was allowed by the court to post a P1 million bail for his temporary liberty.
In March 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the rape and acts of lasciviousness charges filed by Cornejo against Navarro as it held that the DOJ did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it earlier ruled to dismiss the said cases before the CA revive it last year and ordered the Taguig City prosecutors office to file the cases.
In junking the charges, the High Court explained that Cornejo’s inconsistent statements were not trivial or inconsequential.
The SC stressed that in the interest of justice and fair play Cornejo should not be permitted to “materially change” her theory in two previous complaints in a “deliberate attempt” to rectify weaknesses of her theories or add new material allegations.
