2 Chinese nat’ls, accomplice in mail order bride scheme convicted
TWO Chinese nationals and their local accomplice have been sentenced by the San Carlos City, Pangasinan Regional Trial Court of 20 years imprisonment following their conviction for human trafficking.
Found guilty for violation of Section 4(a) and (b) in relation to Section 10 of R.A. 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003) as amended by R.A. 10364 were Li Chun Rong, Violeta Aquino Lee, and Lai Wei Qi (at-large).
In a 48-page decision handed down by Branch 57, the trio was slapped with imprisonment of 20 years each and to pay a fine of P1,000,000. They were also ordered to pay the complainant P400,000 as damages.
The victim filed a complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation – International Airport Division (NBI-IAID) against the three, implicating them to the “Mail Order Bride” scheme.
The complainant lodged the complaint shortly after being repatriated from the People’s Republic of China.
Based on NBI investigation, that sometime in 2017 in Urbiztundo, Pangasinan, Li Chun Rong and Violeta Aquino recruited the victim to work in China on the condition that she would marry Lai Wei Qi.
After the sham marriage, the victim was sent to China, where instead of landing a job, was detained, her passport and visa seized, and sexually abused by Law Wei Qi and his brother-in-law.
Thus, NBI-IAID filed a complaint against the them before the Office of the City Prosecutor, San Carlos City, Pangasinan. Accordingly, the Prosecutor’s Office found merits on the case, which led to the filing of an information against them, and eventually was assigned to RTC 57.
Based on the pieces of evidence submitted to the court and the testimony of the victim and other witnesses, the court was convinced that they were guilty of violating the (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003).
