Victim’s lawyer insists Cebu road rage suspect was the aggressor

Cebu road rage shooting suspect David Lim Jr. showed aggression from the start of the traffic altercation that ended with the shooting of nurse Ephraim Nuñal,  the victim’s lawyer insisted Thursday.

In an interview on GMA News TV's "News To Go,"  Atty. Mundlyn Misal Martin, Nuñal's lawyer, contended that Lim showed aggression by punching her client, taking a gun from his car, and shooting the victim. 

Martin made the pronouncement to debunk Lim's lawyer's claim that Nuñal was the aggressor, and that the accused acted in self-defense. 

She also belied claims that before Lim shot Nuñal in the feet and legs, there was a brawl started by the victim and his "companions." 

"Si David Lim ang aggressor ... walang suntukan na nangyari ... huminto siya sa gitna ng daan. Bumaba sa kotse and he approached my client and threw a punch ... pero hindi tinamaan," Martin told News To Go.

She said that after throwing a punch on Nuñal, Lim went back to his car and grabbed a gun and charged forward to shoot her client.  She was referring to a photo given to them by a "good Samaritan."

She also claimed that David's lawyer has tried to make it appear that Nuñal was the aggressor, to invoke the self-defense argument.

A photo provided to GMA News by Martin also showed that her client had only one companion during the shooting incident. It was supposedly taken moments before Lim shot Nuñal as seen in a video that had gone viral.

"My client came from work, may kasama siyang dalawa. Yung isa nadrop off na niya so meron siyang isang kasama na supposedly 'yun ang kasunod na i-drop off niya. Dalawa lang silang sakay," Martin told "24-Oras" on Wednesday night.

Also, the photo shows Lim's Mercedes Benz after it suddenly stopped in the middle of F. Sotto Street in Barangay Kamputhaw.

Honking

Asked on News To Go what started the traffic altercation, Martin said that Lim must have been annoyed by Nuñal's honking behind him.

Martin claimed that Lim was swerving left and right and did not allow the vehicles behind his car to pull ahead. 

"Iisa lang ang road, so siya yung nakasunod hindi siya [Nuñal] makapag-overtake kasi nasa gitna siya,  si David. Normal reaction you honk, para tumabi siya. Hindi siya tumabi," Martin said. 

Lim claimed that Nuñal was the aggressor.

"They [Nuñal and companions] know from the very beginning that I wasn't driving zigzag. They kept honking more than five seconds, honking. The two cars kept honking at my back," Lim said, adding that the video uploaded on social media was edited and did not present the whole incident. 

"When I went down the car he kept shouting at me pa, so we got into a fistfight and when I saw his male companions, they were more than 1, 2.. i don't know. Basta there were male companions who went down the car. That's when i felt threatened," Lim said. 

"I fired a warning shot on the ground as you can see in the video. He directly went to me so I just had to restrain him before he could get the gun from me. I don't know what he might do," he added. 

Martin stressed that the video was the raw version and was not edited. 

Guarded by police commandos, Lim is being detained at the headquarters of the Police Regional Office 7 as his lawyer was still unable to post bail because the resolution has not yet been signed by the fiscal assigned to the case. —LBG, GMA News