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The police are convinced they have their man.
“According to the Manila Police District (MPD), the circumstantial evidence gathered by investigators in the ErgoCha milk tea deaths case all point to the milk tea shop owner’s son, Lloyd Abrigo, as the sole suspect in the death of his father, William Abrigo, and customer Suzaine Dagohoy,” reports Jovic Yee in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
READ: PNP on ErgoCha murders: Oxalic acid caused deaths
William and Dagohoy had both died minutes after they drank milk tea from ErgoCha last Apr 9. William had prepared the drink. Dagohoy and her boyfriend, Arnold Aydalla, had complained that it tasted strange. So, William drank some of it, too. Only Aydalla survived the poisoning.
MPD legal officer Dennis Wagas cited the testimony of witnesses, the footage taken by the shop’s closed-circuit television camera (CCTV), and the results of toxicology tests showing that the victims had ingested oxalic acid, a substance commonly used as a cleaning or bleaching agent.
READ: ErgoCha owner’s son charged with murder for milk tea deaths
Wagas pointed out that “on the night of April 8, the CCTV footage showed Abrigo entering the shop wearing surgical gloves and holding a brown paper bag. He brought the bag to the far end of the shop, an area not covered by the CCTV camera.”
Wagas stated, “Lloyd tampered with the crime scene. When his father was in the hospital, he went to the shop to clean up.”
Thus, the MPD has already filed two murder charges against Lloyd, as well as one charge for frustrated murder.
Among the witnesses against Abrigo were shop helper Joseph Garnacio, trainee Rose Ann Limpahan, as well as Wendell Maitland, who lived near the milk tea shop in Sampaloc, Manila.
Maitland claimed that he saw Lloyd return to the shop shortly after his father was poisoned.
In a text message to the Inquirer, Lloyd’s counsel, Atty. Benedicto Buenaventura, declared that his client “did not bring any chemical or harmful substances into the shop.” Buenaventura added that the bag brought by Lloyd into the shop on Apr 8 contained oolong tea leaves.
Photo: Zhander Cayabyab, dzMM (Twitter)
