06
AFTER TWO DECADES…
Cold case
no more
A
two-decades old case on the rape and murder of a Filipino
woman is finally over.
THANKS to advances in DNA
technology and police vigilance,
a man was last month finally put
to jail for the sexual assault and
murder of Pia Navida in 1992.
Ms Navida was 37 at the time of
her death. Her partially naked
and badly battered body was
found by bushwalkers in the
Royal national Park.
Justice has been served to Pia
and dossiers on her had been
removed from police cold case
files.
Mainstream media has kept
watch on the case which had its
first major breakthrough in 2011
when DNA samples matched
that of the prime suspect Steve
Isac Matthews. Matthews, now
43, has been sentenced to the
maximum 21 years in jail.
According to news.com.au,
the judge gave the maximum
sentence considering the “horrendous and barbaric” nature of
the crime.
Ms Navidad arrived in Australia in the 1980s. She was described by news reports as “a
young bride, lived a nomadic
lifestyle, was involved in drugs
THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 9 | June 2014
NEWS
and worked as a prostitute near
Sydney Central.”
Her body was found in Bundeena on February 1, 1992, when
bushwalkers discovered her underwear and other personal
items scattered nearby.
Police determined she had
been raped and then bludgeoned
to death with a large rock that
crushed her face. Her body was
then dragged a small distance
and dumped.
Apart from the matching of
DNA samples, Matthews also
gave himself away as the primary
suspect after he related to a girlfriend how he once assaulted and
murdered a woman at the park.
The case of Pia Navida was
one of several police cold cases
that had gone unsolved for decades.
Filo appears in court over killing
A
case involving a 29-year-old Filipino-Australian man who
killed his stepfather was heard in court last month.
THE accused sought a manslaughter charge instead of
murder because he claimed he
was affected by a mental condition when he stabbed his stepfather repeatedly at their home
in Mascot two years ago.
The accused, Michael Villalon, is on trial at the NSW Supreme Court for the murder of
his stepfather.
According to a Sydney
Morning Herald report, a police file on the case quoted Villalon as saying that he ‘exploded’ and got back at his stepfather who he claimed humiliated him repeatedly and punched
him on one occasion.
The court heard how the
Filipino-Australian and his
stepfather quarreled over matters such as the use of utensils
at the dinner table and who left
towels on the bathroom floor.
Villalon arrived in Australia in 2009 . Two years later, he
and a younger sister moved
in to live in the house of their
mother and stepfather.
Villalon had earlier admitted he stabbed his stepfather
during a fight one morning in
February 2012.
The trial continues.
Justice for Raynor
THE
man accused of throwing a fatal punch that killed
Filipino-Australian Raynor Manalad will face court anew next
month to answer to charges of assault and causing death
while intoxicated.
RAYNOR, 21, was killed in an
alleged one-punch attack outside a birthday party at Rooty
Hill last month. His death,
which shocked the FilipinoAustralian community, was
the subject of widespread media coverage especially after the
NSW government upgraded its
one-punch laws.
The suspect Hugh Garth,
had appeared at the Blacktown Local Court earlier and
had since remained in custody. He could face a minimum
eight-year jail term under the
new laws covering one-punch
assaults and intoxication.
It was reported that Raynor
was trying to stop a fight between Mr Garth and his girlfriend when he was punched
and lost consciousness.