BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
“I can’t forgive him,” Jonel Norbe, the husband of one of the victims in the gruesome massacre in Gardenville Subdivision, Brgy. Tangub, Bacolod City, told the DAILY STAR yesterday when asked if he will accept the apology of the suspect, who is also the nephew of his wife.
Four counts of murder and another case of robbery will be filed against Christian Tulot, 39, of Brgy. Malaabang in Concepcion town, Iloilo, before the Bacolod Hall of Justice today after he confessed to killing his relatives on Easter Sunday.
Tulot made an extra-judicial confession over the weekend and admitted that he hammered and hacked to death his cousin, John Michael, 35, aunts Jocelyn Espinosa-Norbe, 59, and Jemma Espinosa, 69, and smothered his 6-year-old niece, Precious, with a pillow.
Tulot sought forgiveness from his relatives, but Jonel said it is easy to apologize but it is difficult to forgive him since he killed four people, adding that he will let justice takes its course on the suspect.
Jonel said that since he arrived back in Bacolod days after the discovery of the decomposing bodies of the victims and the arrest of Tulot, he was not able to meet with the suspect yet.
If given a chance to meet him, Jonel said he wants to be enlightened on the reason why the suspect was able to do such heinous acts despite the fact that they treated him well, fed him, and gave him shelter.
P/Major Joery Puerto, Station 8 commander, said Jonel and the other relatives of the Epinosas will serve as complainants against Tulot, who is now detained at Police Station 8, and was earlier charged for illegal drug use.
Puerto said they were supposed to file the charges against Tulot yesterday but since he made his extra-judicial confession on a weekend, they were not able to have it subscribe at the Bacolod Hall of Justice.
He said that the autopsy reports on the victims have not been released yet but they already have the death certificates that they will use as evidence in the charges they will file.
The victims were already laid to rest at the Bacolod Memorial Park on Saturday after a necrological service attended by family members and friends.*
