A bloody 2005: A rundown of court, police records

A bloody 2005. The year was remembered for 13 deaths in vehicular accidents. More unsolved homicides, a few sea accidents, and more school burglaries.

Two veteran cops were arrested and subsequently convicted. In civil actions, big cases mostly involved land compensation. It was also the year when two retired justices passed away.

One day after the New Year revelries, Saipan was greeted with a robbery-murder. A security guard was fatally stabbed several times by a robber inside J&C Poker Arcade in Garapan.

The struggle in the arcade was caught by a surveillance camera that was installed in the establishment. A picture of the suspect wearing a baseball cap was released to the media. But up to now investigators are clueless as to the identity of the killer.

Five days after the murder, a Filipino motorist became the first vehicular accident casualty. He died while his passenger was injured when their car ran off the roadway and slammed into a concrete wall and power pole along Middle Road in Gualo Rai.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was very aggressive in the opening month of the year. FBI shocked local enforcement agencies and the community when they picked up in the second week of the month Police Officers 2 Eric John Tudela Mafnas and Charley K. Patris.

Mafnas and Patris were indicted on charges of stealing cash and illegal drugs evidence as well as providing false information to federal agents and a grand jury. Both officers were subsequently convicted in the latter part of the year.

On Jan. 22 another fatal vehicular smashup occurred along the curve of Monsignor Guerrero Road in Chalan Kiya. The head-on collision between a car and a pickup truck caused the untimely death of conservation officer James Olopai Tanaka and 16-year-old Yumiko Yagi. Three other persons were injured. Police determined that speed and alcohol were factors in the accident.

January closed with another murder: A Chinese/Korean woman was killed by an unidentified person in her apartment in Chalan Piao. Investigators noticed a defensive wound on the victim and found signs and evidence of struggle in the room. The case remains unsolved.

It was also in the latter part of January when the FBI arrested Fermina Atalig, a former official of the Department of Labor and Immigration on Rota. Atalig was accused of being involved in a conspiracy to submit false typhoon disaster claims for seven ineligible applicants in April 2003.

February was immediately greeted with a road accident. It was on the second day of the month when a 32-year-old Chuukese died after he was struck by a scooter driven by an intoxicated tourist along 2W Highway in Tanapag.

On the second week, a freak sea accident happened in Susupe. A girl died in the accident when the jetski she was on hit a boat that was anchored near the shoreline.

On Feb. 16, the legal community was stunned over the untimely passing of retired Justice Pedro M. Atalig due to heart attack. He was 55 years old.

Four days later, former radio announcer Antonio B. Camacho died when his pickup truck ran off the roadway and struck a utility pole in Kagman. It was raining at the time.

Saipan roads were a little bit silent in March and April as no major accidents happened. No murder also occurred.

But the first day of May was again met with a fatal road accident. A Chinese bicyclist died after he was struck by a car along Monsignor Guerrero Road in San Jose. The driver was not arrested. Investigators determined it was the fault of the bicyclist for not yielding to incoming cars.

With respect to court litigation of high profile criminal cases, it was in May when Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama dismissed the case against former Rep. Stanley T. Torres and co-defendant Dorothy Sablan.

The two were accused of engaging in a ghost employee scheme. The defendants, through their attorneys, won several pre-trial motions. Deputy Attorney General Clyde Lemons Jr. then moved to drop the matter.

It was on May 10 when police closed its investigation on the 2002 murder of Candi’s Poker poker attendant Mostofa Faruk Parves following the arrest of Francisco Aguon Pua. The case is still pending in court.

While school burglaries were rampant, in fairness to the Department of Public Safety, police were also quick in solving some of the cases.

During the first week of June, detectives arrested five male teenagers allegedly involved in a break-in at Marianas High School where some items were stolen.

That same week, police arrested three male teenagers who were tagged as arsonists who intentionally set on fire one of the classrooms at Kagman High School on May 28.

That same week, Tinian police believed to have solved the burglary at Tinian Aging Center and T-Mart Store on June 8 with the arrest of three juveniles.

The first day of July was met with a murder. A 60-year-old Korean businessman was killed in his room at SRC Buildings in Chalan Laulau. He was already dead when his wife found him in their room. The victim was reportedly hogtied and strangled. The case remains unsolved.

On Aug. 27, Jim Belebei died after being comatose in the hospital for several weeks. Belebei was allegedly beaten up by Daniel K. Santos near the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. in Garapan. Santos is waiting for his trial.

In was in September when the federal court sentenced to one year in jail former Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s Water Division laboratory manager Pedro Q. Babauta, who was convicted for submitting false documents for concealing water test results in the public water system.

In October another bloody road mishap occurred. Judge Govendo’s son, Benjamin Brice Govendo, died when his car swerved and fell into a deep ravine by the roadside in Sadog Tasi.

In November Luis S. Manahane flew to Saipan from Redding, California where he works, after he was informed that his son John G. Manahane was missing on Tinian. Luis Manahane said he received information that his son was killed and buried somewhere on the island.

The Attorney General’s Investigative Unit admitted they have been investigating the incident. With no progress in the AGIU probe, Luis Manahane decided to go back to California in the early part of December.

The most bloody vehicular accident happened on Nov. 27. Three Chinese were killed while a local man was seriously injured when their vehicles collided along Beach Road in Chalan Laulau.

Investigators determined that speed was the factor and not alcohol that triggered the accident.

As for civil action, it was in November when Judge Juan T. Lizama ruled that the Malite estate’s land compensation claim is not barred by the statute of limitations.

The month closed with the passing of retired Justice and Judge Ramon Garrido Villagomez. He was 56.

Villagomez, widely known in the local community as forefather of Article 12, had been in coma since he suffered a massive heart attack in April 2000.

It was a bloody opening of the year. It was still bloody as the year closed. On Dec. 11, Police Officer 1 Andrew Santos fatally shot Donnald Sewel as the officer reportedly tried to pacify a fight in Gualo Rai. The Attorney General’s Office concluded that the action taken by the officer was justified by the circumstances.