5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly himself tied the rope to the metal pipe. xxxx Therefore no elements at all have emerged such as would lead us to believe that third parties may have intervened in causing the death, and the way in which Mr. Pedrajas died, as described, conforms to suicide.[13] The Italian Medical Examiner further concluded that: x x x There are no elements which may lead one to suppose/assume the direct intervention of third parties in causing the death of the young seaman. In other words, beyond all reasonable doubt, everything points to Pedrajas having hung himself in order to commit suicide.[14] In the case at bar, the CA did not give credit to the report and findings made by the Medical Examiner appointed by the Italian Court who conducted the autopsy on the body of Hernani. The CA held that the Forensic Report of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Livorno, Italy was “weakened” by the findings of the PNP Crime Laboratory and the NBI. The PNP Crime Laboratory, in its report, stated thus: Unfortunately, my knowledge of the case is limited by the fact that I have no police report and autopsy report done in Italy. I have no pictures of the following: crime scene, cord/rope, type of knot, position of the body when it was found. In this case, I only have the body and the verbal information disclosed to me by the wife and sister of the victim. x x x To be able to determine if the strangulation is “suicide or homicide,” it should not be only limited to the autopsy, but it must be based on several aspects like knowledge of the “crime scene, victim’s behavior and other things related to it. x x x xxxx Based on the following information and physical findings, I cannot totally rule-out homicide.[15] The NBI, on the other hand, did not conduct any autopsy of the body of Hernani and just based their opinion on documents submitted to them and information coming solely from his relatives. The Medico-Legal Officer of the NBI found that: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57383 4/9