The Department of Justice has indicted in court the Chinese woman who threw a cup of taho or soybean dessert at a police officer in a Metro Rail Transit 3 station last Saturday
The DOJ, through investigating Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Leynard Dumlao, found probable cause to hold Jiale Zhang criminally liable for direct assault following the inquest proceedings on charges filed by Police Officer 1 William Cristobal last Sunday.
“Respondent’s act is an abrasive affront against an officer in uniform representing a national institution,” read the inquest resolution approved by City Prosecutor Bernabe Augustus Solis.
The prosecutor stressed that the respondent’s act of throwing taho to the policeman was “serious in character as to indicate respondent’s determination to defy the law and its representative at all hazards,” calling it “deliberate and serious defiance.”
“It is offensive both by legal and moral norm considering that there was no provocation on the part of the police officer,” the resolution stated.
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But the prosecutor’s office dismissed the complaint for disobedience because it is considered “necessary consequence of the assault as well as the unjust vexation, which was deemed absorbed in a direct assault.”
If found guilty by the court of direct assault, the Chinese fashion student could be imprisoned for a period of at least four years and two months and told to pay a fine of P1,000 under Article 148 of the Revised Penal Code.
Records showed that Zhang was entering the MRT Boni Station in Mandaluyong at around 8:30 a.m. last Saturday when she was stopped by security personnel because of the taho she was carrying.
The policeman told the fashion student to consume the dessert first before she could enter the MRT platform because of the strict implementation of no-liquid policy in the mass transit system.
The MRT management has been implementing the no-liquid policy inside the station and train premises as part of the security measures following the twin bombing at the Jolo Cathedral, which was perpetrated by two suicide bombers.
During commotion between Zhang and the security personnel, Cristobal intervened and explained to the foreigner the reason for the ban on drinks inside the MRT.
But Zhang threw the cup of taho at the policeman who got splashed on his uniform.
The incident that was even caught on video, which went viral on social media, resulted in the arrest of the Chinese woman.
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