BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Office of the City Prosecutor in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental affirmed the dismissal of the kidnapping complaint filed against Australian national Peter Lay and a nanny, Edlyn Gelantagaan.
Lay and Gelantagaan were arrested for allegedly kidnapping two minors – reported to be Lay’s ex-lover’s children – in Barangay Estefania here last month.
The Office of the City Prosecutor found no probable cause to indict Lay or Gelantagaan.
The resolution was signed by Deputy City Prosecutor Alvin Aseniero and City Prosecutor Joseph Arnel Zerna.
It further pointed out that Lay had certain rights, responsibilities and obligations to his three-year-old son since he is the biological fathers, and that since Lay also provided for the needs of the nine-year-old girl, he was not just the girl’s father figure but her father for all intents and purposes.
The Office of the City Prosecutor added that there was no custody agreement between Lay or the children’s mother regarding the exclusive custody of the children to the complainant.
The Prosecutor also agreed with Gelantagaan’s arguments that she was only following the orders and instructions of both her employers, in accompanying the complainant to Dumaguete City and in going back to Bacolod, and therefore should not be held liable for the crime as charged in conspiracy with Lay.
“Wherefore, premises considered, finding lack of probable cause, the cases are hereby ordered dismissed,” the Prosecutor said.
The Prosecutor also ordered the release of Lay and Gelantagaan.
On Monday, Lay issued a statement accusing the children’s mother of lying to the police.
According to him, the mother was not his ex-girlfriend and the children were not kidnapped.
Lay said he and his partner have not ended their relationship and are currently “working things out”.
He explained that the nine-year-old girl was his step-daughter while he was the biological father of the three-year-old boy.
“I am his biological father. The children were rescued from my cheating partner (who was with another man) by myself, my partner’s brother, and my children’s nanny,” he explained./PN
