Richard Cruz and Jojo Nones
The alleged rapists of actor Sandro Muhlach — GMA independent contractors Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz — formally submitted their joint counter-affidavit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday, denying the allegations against them.
During the first preliminary investigation on the case before a DOJ panel, Muhlach faced Nones and Cruz for the first time since the alleged abuse took place in the early hours of July 21, following the GMA Gala night held at a hotel in Pasay City.
In their counter-affidavit, Nones and Cruz claimed there was no evidence pointing to rape based on Muhlach’s sexual abuse allegations. “There is nothing in the testimonial evidence of the complainant which states of any allegation that a penis or object/instrument was inserted in his mouth or anal orifice,” the respondents stated.
“That complainant alleged that tongue is considered as an object or instrument. However, jurisprudence declared that for tongue to be considered as object or instrument, it must be inserted into the genital or anal orifice of the alleged victim,” it added, contradicting an earlier claim of the complainant that his body had been violated by the respondents.
Nones and Cruz’s lawyer, Maggie Garduque, further presented Muhlach’s medicolegal result as documentary evidence to support their claim that no sexual abuse occurred, which found that there had been no insertion of any object on his anal orifice.
Garduque further said Muhlach’s negative drug test results disproves his claim that he was forced to use drugs before the incident.
She also pointed to the call logs between Muhlach and his girlfriend during the time of the alleged abuse via a social media app during the time of the alleged sexual abuse.
“This means na during the time na nasa kwarto siya, wala pong restraint. ‘Yun po ang gusto namin patunayan,” said Garduque. (This means that during the time he was in the room, there was no restraint. That’s what we want to prove.)
READ: CCTV reveals Sandro Muhlach’s state before and after alleged sexual abuse
According to Garduque, after the respondent’s filing of the joint counter-affidavit, the DOJ panel has decided to move the case for resolution as Muhlach’s camp will no longer file a reply .
Meanwhile, the complainant’s father, former child star Niño Muhlach, who was also present at the DOJ, described his son’s feelings upon meeting his assailants during the hearing.
“Galit syempre; umiyak siya sa loob. (Anger, of course; he was crying inside.) He added they are hoping for the case to move forward.