‘I would not forgive’: Accused killer speaks on death of holidaying Australian couple
Tagaytay: The man accused of murdering a holidaying Australian couple inside their Philippines hotel room has apologised to the families and acknowledged that if it was him in their shoes, he could never find forgiveness.
Ronel Estipona Perido, 33, allegedly snuck in through the balcony and killed Sydney man David Fisk and his Australian-Filipina partner Lucita Cortez after demanding money to feed an online gambling addiction. Cortez’s Filipina daughter-in-law, Mary Jane Cortez, who was sleeping in the same room, was also killed.
Ronel Estipona Perido on his way to court.
The trio was staying at the Lake Hotel in the resort city of Tagaytay, south of the capital Manila. Mary Jane’s last phone contact with her husband, Rico Cortez, was at 9:59pm on July 8 following a day of sightseeing and photo-taking around a spectacular volcano lake. They were found dead with their heads wrapped in plastic tape and Fisk also with his throat cut on July 10, their checkout date, by hotel workers after Rico raised concerns.
The victims were not known to Perido, but he was familiar with the resort, having allegedly worked there as a pool cleaner before being fired for stealing. Investigators believe he may have killed Fisk first before trying to get the women to transfer money to his account.
He appeared in court briefly on Thursday as lawyers discussed his attempt for a plea deal that would downgrade his charges from robbery and homicide to homicide only, which would probably carry a lighter sentence. In the interim, he has pleaded not guilty.
Perido waited for the hearing in the hallway of the courthouse while handcuffed to two other prisoners from unrelated cases. They were dressed in prison-issued yellow T-shirts and brown track pants. As the wait dragged on, the men were given boxed meals from Jollibee, a ubiquitous fast-food chain.
Australian couple David Fisk and Lucita Barquin Cortez were found dead in a Philippines hotel room.
Rico, the Filipino son of Lucita and husband of Mary Jane, was waiting in the same area and at one point came within half a metre of the accused, who was being escorted past him by guards. Rico Cortez followed him with his gaze.
Media was again blocked from entering the courtroom to watch proceedings, the default position in the Philippines, but this masthead was allowed to approach Perido during the waiting period outside.
“I would like to apologise to the family,” he said, through an interpreter, when asked if he had anything to say to the grieving Fisk family in Australia.
“I do not think they will ever forgive me. If it happened to me, I would not forgive.”
He declined to answer questions about the specifics of the allegations or his supposed online gambling.
The local legal team hired by the Fisks said the family had indicated it would not accept a plea deal.
Rico also wanted Perido to face the full force of justice, emerging from Thursday’s hearing “irritated” at the stop-start manner of the case and “because the lawyer of the suspect is telling everyone we’ve said yes to the plea deal, but we haven’t – and we won’t”.
Rico is raising his four children by himself and is without a job. Only minutes after Thursday’s hearing, his employer called to say that his services as a delivery driver were no longer needed because he was not working enough.
Compounding his problems, Rico said the Australian travel insurance company used by his mother on her South-East Asian holiday was playing hardball over a $25,000 accidental death payout. He wanted to use this money to start life anew with his children in Manila.
Fisk family members, too, have been frustrated, saying they have needed to fight for information from both DFAT and Philippines authorities from the beginning. They were not told about the early hearings last year and have been denied access to a court livestream despite a court order last year to allow one.
Lacinda Fisk, one of David’s two daughters, organised a room in the Philippines consulate in Sydney on Thursday – for a $200 fee, not including audio-visual equipment – to follow proceedings live but was told after arriving that she would no longer have access. The fee was waived.
A DFAT representative attended the court in Tagaytay but promptly directed this masthead’s questions to its media spokespeople in Australia.
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