 |
| Defendant fails to show up for trial for 5th time |
A Filipino tourist accused of using a false instrument again
failed to appear in the hearing of his case in District Court on Oct 24, reportedly
because he was in hospital for treatment of a heart ailment.
It was the fifth time that Celerino L. Tinana failed to show
up in court for the start of his scheduled three-day trial, his own lawyer,
Andrew Bullett, told Judge K. Kwok.
Bullett, showing to the judge a medical advice from the
hospital, said Tinana was expected to stay there for the next two weeks due a
heart failure for which “too much medicine has been prescribed.”
 |
| Call us! |
He said the hospital had also advised that the defendant,
who was arrested in November 2017 for trying to pass off as genuine a check for
US$100 billion in Bank of China branch in Kowloon, would remain unfit for trial
until Nov 12.
Bullett asked Judge Kwok to fix a new trial date and said
the defense will get a detailed medical report on Tinana’s health condition
from the hospital. He suggested a Nov 17 starting date.
Prosecutor Kamlesh Sadhwani, obviously impatient at the repeated
postponement of the trial, objected and sought a Nov 12-14 trial date.
“I believe he (Tinana) is not really in hospital at this
moment,” he said.
The judge, however, scheduled the next hearing for Dec 17
but instructed Bullett to make sure that his client would be present.
Tinana, an Ilocano, was granted bail in an earlier hearing in
November 2018 by District Court Judge Eddie Yip. His trial was supposed to
start on Nov 14, 2018, but his lawyer said he was sick and in hospital.
On Oct 30, the trial in District Court of elderly Filipino
tourist Brudencio Bolaños will resume after it was adjourned on Sept 24 because
of the absence of two witnesses, an HSBC forensic expert and a government
psychologist.
Bolaños is being tried on a charge of presenting a fake deposit
slip for US$943 billion at the HSBC main office in Central in April last year. -
Vir
B. Lumicao
---
I-try mo ito, Kabayan: Kung interesado kang ma-contact ang mga advertiser namin dito, pindutin lang ang kanilang ad, at lalabas ang auto-dialer. Pindutin ulit upang tumawag. Hindi na kailangang pindutin ang mga numero.
