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She believes her son is innocent.
“A legal counsel for Adela Abrigo — the wife of William Abrigo, the ErgoCha shop owner who died after drinking milk tea last April 9 — said she was surprised that the Manila Police District (MPD) had ‘singled out’ her son, Lloyd Abrigo, and did not press charges against the shop helper, Joseph Garnacio,” reports Nathaniel R. Melican in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
READ: ErgoCha owner’s son charged with murder for milk tea deaths
Adela is actually also a registered owner of ErgoCha.
The report noted: “The MPD has filed charges for two counts of murder against Lloyd for the death of his father William and customer Suzaine Dagohoy. Lloyd is also facing frustrated murder charges for the case of Arnold Aydalla, Suzaine’s boyfriend, who also took a sip of the milk tea prepared by William but survived after receiving treatment at the hospital.”
Apparently, the development came about after two shop helpers claimed that Lloyd had brought some type of “smelly liquid” or “suspected chemical” to the store the night before the alleged poisoning happened. The helper even claimed that it was the second time that Lloyd allegedly brought “something that smelled of bleach” to the milk tea shop. Police said CCTV footage also puts Lloyd as the main or “sole suspect.”
The MPD has revealed that the likely poison that killed William and Suzaine was “oxalic acid,” a substance commonly used as a cleaning or bleaching agent.
READ: PNP on ErgoCha murders: Oxalic acid caused deaths
But the Abrigos’ lawyer, Atty. Benedicto Buenaventura said, “From the very beginning, we have maintained that… he didn’t put any chemical in the milk tea solution and there is no evidence pointing to that as well. We will defend and prove his innocence.”
Buenabentura also said, “We expected the helper (Garnacio) to be included in the charge sheet. Why single out Lloyd in this case? What evidence do they have in this case? The question here is who put the poison in the solution? Did the security camera footage show Lloyd actually putting the chemical in the milk tea solution? Why don’t they investigate the helper as well because he was at the shop all the time?”
The report disclosed that Garnacio had supposedly gone to Cebu after he was questioned by invesigators.
