QC court dismisses Harriet Demetriou's case vs exorcist priest

A Quezon City court has dismissed the case filed against exorcist priest Fr. Winston Cabading who was accused of offending religious feelings. 

In a nine-page order, the QC Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 224 granted the motion filed by Cabading and quashed the information and amended information filed against him by former Commission on Elections chairperson Harriet Demetriou.

“Otherwise stated, the facts alleged and charged in the original Information and the Amended information do not constitute an offense,” the court said.

Demetriou filed the case against Cabading over his alleged statements on the authenticity of the 1948 Lipa Apparitions in a digital Catholic show

Demetriou, in her complaint, accused the priest of being a “rabid critic” of Mary and lambasted his comment doubting the 1951 Lipa Diocesan Verdict that “negated the authenticity of the 1948 apparition of Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace.”

In September 2023, the court found that the information Demetriou filed failed to state the facts which constitute an offense. It gave the prosecution an opportunity to amend the information and correct the defect under Sec. 4, Rule 117 of the Revised Penal Code.

This prompted Demetriou to file an amended petition in February after her motion for reconsideration on the court's order was dismissed.

However, the court said that the amended information did not cure the defects in the original information.

“Verily, the Court holds that neither the original Information nor the Amended Information is sufficient as the same did not set forth the specific allegation of every fact and circumstance necessary to constitute the crime of Offending the religious feelings through and with the use of information and communications technologies,” the court said.

Sought for comment, Demetriou said that the dismissal is not final and vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.

“My lawyers and I will appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter of all legal disputes. I'll exhaust all available remedies provided by law to every litigant,” she said in a message to reporters.

Demetriou also said there is a separate perjury case filed against Cabading before a Makati court.

Cabading welcomed the court’s decision.

"We thank the Judge for the decision. Despite the arrest of May last year, I was confident that the truth will eventually prevail, for I have faith in our justice system,” he said in a separate message to reporters.

Cabading, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism (AMOE), was arrested on May 13, 2023. He posted bail and was granted provisional liberty days later. —KBK, GMA Integrated News