By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Guadiz left court with reporters in hot pursuit |
The Filipina girlfriend of an Indian man who was said to
have set off an outbreak of the South African variant of coronavirus in
Victoria Marie Guadiz, 31, a clinic receptionist in Central, was accused before Magistrate Ada Yim of refusing to give information to health authorities about her movements on April 10 and 11.
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At her request, saying she was about to be fired from her job that paid her $26,000 a month because of the case, the magistrate allowed Guadiz to post bail of $2,000 until her next court appearance on May 31.
The Filipina looked calm as she stood in the dock, her face partly hidden by a face mask and a face shield, while dozens of reporters ogled and took note of her every movement.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
After the case was adjourned, most of the reporters waited for nearly two hours outside the court house, waiting for her to emerge. When she did, the reporters tried to besiege her, but she quickly ran away.
This was the defendant’s first appearance in court, as she was taken to hospital due to a fever last Monday, when she and her co-defendant, Indian engineer Syed Mohamed Rizvi, were scheduled to be charged.
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This time, health authorities had certified that she no longer posed a threat of transmitting a communicable disease.
The prosecution applied for the case to be adjourned so police can obtain CCTV footage from shops and hotel records on the days Guadiz and Rizvi visited various places after his release from quarantine.
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Both defendants will face an additional charge during their next court appearance on May 31, the prosecutor said.
In a hearing last Monday, the prosecution said Rizvi would face an additional charge of lying to Immigration officers during an interview about their movements on the two days in April.
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| Guadiz said she is about to be fired from her job at a clinic in The Centrium |
Rizvi told the investigators initially that he and Guadiz
only walked around Jordan and Tsim Sha Tsui, then visited Cheung Chau. He did
not mention other places they visited, like Tung Chung and
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
As a result of Guadiz’s refusal to give information to the officers, about 1,000 had to go to a 21-day compulsory quarantine and delayed the government efforts to control the pandemic, the prosecutor said.
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| Tunghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love. |
As with Rizvi, the
prosecutor had opposed bail for the Filipina, citing the seriousness of the
case and the possibility that she would abscond, despite being a
