Hit-and-run suspect Jose Antonio Sanvicente on Thursday showed up at the second preliminary hearing to file his counter-affidavit regarding the criminal complaints lodged against him by the police.
Sanvicente, who was accompanied by his lawyer, left in a huff 30 minutes later. He left after 30 minutes and declined to give any statement to the media.
The lawyer, Danny Macalino, told reporters that they submitted their counter-affidavit and would wait for the court’s decision on the case.
“We only submitted a counter-affidavit. Perhaps there won’t be another hearing, I don’t know,” Macalino said.
Sanvicente skipped the first hearing last week. This was his first public appearance since surrendering to the police at Camp Crame last June 15, and apologized to the complainant, security guard Christian Joseph Floralde, during a press conference.
Floralde “begged off” from Thursday’s hearing as he was not feeling well, said his lawyer Federico Biolena.
Biolena said he was not aware of any settlement attempts between his client and Sanvicente.
The lawyer also said they have submitted all their evidence and individual statements, and will just let the prosecutor “weigh the evidence as he sees it.”
Biolena noted that their camp’s strongest piece of evidence was the dashboard camera video of the June 5 hit-and-run incident in Mandaluyong City that went viral later on.
He added he was not privy to the financial assistance that Sanvicente’s camp previously offered to his client. Sanvicente’s family had promised Senator-elect JV Ejercito that they would shoulder the medical expenses of the security guard and that they would “face the consequences” of his actions.
Sanvicente is facing complaints of frustrated murder and abandonment of his victim.
The Land Transportation Office earlier this month permanently revoked Sanvicente’s driver’s license.