Television host Ferdinand “Vhong” H. Navarro has been granted bail by the Taguig City regional trial court (RTC) where he is facing a rape case filed by model Deniece Millinete Cornejo.

“After a thorough scrutiny of the documentary and testimonial evidence presented in this petition for bail, the Court finds that the prosecution fell short in establishing that the guilt of the accused is strong,” stated the Dec. 5 order of Presiding Judge Loralie Cruz Datahan of Taguig City RTC Branch 69.

The court set Navarro’s bail at P1 million.

Navarro surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) when the trial court issued an arrest order against him on the rape case. Also, on orders of the trial court, he was transferred to the Taguig City jail.

Once the P1 million bail is posted and the documents are processed, Navarro can be set free.

In the order, Judge Datahan cited the inconsistencies of the three affidavits issued by Cornejo on Jan. 29, 2014; Feb. 27, 2014; and Oct. 16, 2015.

“In all of these affidavits, the complainant gave different versions of the incident,” the judge said.

The judge said the first two affidavits did not mention the rape that happened on Jan. 17, 2014 and the incident was mentioned only in the third affidavit.

The prosecution “failed to adequately explain why the complainant was scared to report the first incident (January 17, 2014) but not scared to report the second one (January 22, 2014), when both supposedly involved rape by the accused,” the judge said.

“Likewise, while complainant positively claims to have been drugged by accused, she would also testify that she was not sure,” the magistrate also pointed out.

The judge also cited that Cornejo admitted in court that she “did not find anything wrong in preening at herself and giggling, after the supposedly having been raped” as shown by closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the condominium building where she lived.

Judge Datahan added that Cornejo even said in court that she sent text messages to Navarro after getting raped.

“The foregoing statements of the complainant are, to the mind of this Court, inconsistent with her claim of trauma, and outside reasonable expectations for someone who just underwent a painful ordeal,” the judge said.

“Complainant confirmed that accused had no weapon with him at that time, and that she had not been threatened or intimidated by the former, nor was she beaten up by the accused,” the judge also said in the order.

Cornejo’s complaints had been dismissed both by the prosecutor’s office and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

However, on Cornejo’s petition, the DOJ’s resolution was reversed by the Court of Appeals which ordered the filing of the criminal charges against Navarro.

TAGS: #Vhong Navarro #Deniece Cornejo