Court junks Katrina's case against Hayden
Katrina Halili suffered a big legal setback Tuesday after the Pasig Regional Trial Court junked her case against Hayden Kho over the sex video scandal last year.
Katrina charged Hayden of violations to Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women And Children Act for secretly filming their private intimate encounters without her consent. These videos found its way to the Internet in early 2009 that spurred public outcry that led to a Senate investigation and the eventual revocation of Hayden's professional medical license.
According to the resolution written by Judge Rodolfo R. Bonifacio, the case was dismissed due to the insufficiency of evidence presented against Hayden.
Hayden is accused with two criminal acts: taking a video of the sexual encounter without the knowledge of Katrina and uploading the video on the Internet.
The court resolution stated that the prosecution failed to provide any evidence that Hayden uploaded the videos illegally. It further stated the mere taking of the sex video is not yet a violation of the Anti-Violence against Women and Their Children Act.
As for the recording of the sexual act, the decision states that "the Court itself saw during the ocular inspection that the video camera was situated in an open and unconcealed place which cannot escape unnoticed." This proves that the "camera was never hidden" and that "it was in plain view."
"The video camera was there visible to both of them, it was aimed at the direction of the bed, and it was already the fourth occasion when their libidinous activities were recorded in video," the resolution stated, adding that these instances made it hard to believe that Katrina was unaware of the video taking.
Hayden said in the interview with Yahoo! Southeast Asia that he hopes the case's dismissal will help in his motion for reconsideration regarding the revocation of his medical license.
