DEATH FOR PUSHER

5th Person Meted The Death Penalty By Drug Court

THE REGIONAL Trial Court (RTC) convicted a big-time pusher from Matina,
Davao City to die by lethal injection for possessing 70.796 grams of shabu
during a raid by police operatives inside his house last February. In her
19-page decision, Judge Adoracion Avisado of the special drug court RTC
Branch 9 also directed Joel Jairal, 36, to pay seven million pesos to the
government for his pending R.A. 9165 case (Comprehensive Drugs Act of
2002). Jairal is the 5th person sentenced by the court to death for drugs.

Avisado said the prosecution panel have successfully proven the guilt of
Jairal beyond reasonable doubt.

She said no mitigating circumstances that would warrant a reduced penalty
for the accused was seen in the case.

The judge also slapped another 24 years jailterm and P450,000 monetary
penalty to the detained accused to his separate but similar two other cases
of R.A. 9165.

Based on court records, combined elements of the Heinous Crime and
Investigation Section (HCIS) headed by P/Sr. Insp. Fulgencio Pavo and
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided the house of Jairal around
2:30 p.m. of February 25.

In the presence of the media and some barangay officials, the raiding team
were able to recover 70.799 grams of shabu, 4.9 grams of dried marijuana
leaves, and shabu paraphernalia in the raid.

A urine test conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) crime
laboratory yielded positive result for the big-time pusher. Aided by his
lawyer, Jairal denied the charges against him.

Jairal asserted that the police just fabricated the charges against him and
even robbed him of his valuables on the supposed raid.

He said his hands were already tied up when he was presented to the media
and barangay officials.

The accused defended that prior to his arrest he was busy attending to his
live-in partner who gave birth to a local clinic along Bonifacio Street.

However, Avisado did not buy his defense and ruled to convict him to his
three drug charges.(RBJ)