Other suspects in slaying of British national still at large

By Kit Bagaipo
First posted by The Bohol Chronicle


"I am worth more dead than alive."

These were the words of slain British national Martin Williams to his lawyer days before he was murdered as he sensed somebody was out to try to kill him.

The lifeless body of Williams, 43 years old, was discovered stripped to his underwear beside Boloc-boloc Spring in barangay Mansasa, this city, with multiple stab wounds to the chest, abdomen, head and other parts of the body on the morning of March 24.

Two suspects have been arrested by the police and are being charged for the brutal crime - one Christian Gulle, 22, and a female teenage companion, 19-year old Irene Borja, both residents of barangay Mansasa.

Gulle confessed to investigators that he stabbed Williams several times after the Briton allegedly tried to rape and hurt his friend Borja on the night of March 23.

However, Williams' family and his counsel Atty. Alexander Lim said the British man could not have been killed by one person alone.

"We have reason to believe that the murder suspect did not do it on his own but had help from others," Lim said.

Williams had 14 stab wounds and several injuries on the head and different parts of the body.

"The way the stab wounds and injuries were positioned raises doubts on Gulle's confession," according to Lim.

The victim's counsel added that his own fact-finding of the murder revealed that there were several motor-riding men who were seen going near Boloc-boloc Spring on the night Williams was killed.

"It appears that there are still others who know of the crime and the police should go after them," Lim stressed.

The family of Williams told Lim of a few instances that the victim purportedly received threats to his life. In fact, sometime in January, an unidentified gunman tried to kill him while he was talking to customers at his bar in barangay Tawala, Panglao.

According to Lim, earlier this year the British man had authorized him to sell his P10-million house in Panglao as he was planning to fly back to the United Kingdom.

Williams had been separated from his Filipino wife and their only child since last year.

Lim said, forensic evidence should come out soon from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that was requested by the British Embassy to conduct its own full inquiry of the incident.

Initially, police operatives found an identification card of Gulle at the crime scene which led to the suspect's arrest.

According to the account of the suspect, he met Williams on the night of March 23 at Bojol Grill where they had drinks. The drinking session continued until around 10 p.m. at the spring, just about a hundred meters from the Bohol Mangrove KTV Bar and Lodging house where the Briton was checked in.

Gulle said he stood a few meters on the shore away from Williams and Borja when he heard the latter shout for help. The girl was reportedly on the ground lying in pain when he approached them as Williams started shouting at him.

He admitted stabbing Williams several times and helped the girl run away from the crime scene.

Williams was discovered beside Boloc-boloc Spring at around 6 a.m. the following day.

Police believed he was attacked in the spring and then dragged out to shore.

Williams operated his own luxury car business in the United Kingdom before coming to the Philippines to marry a local woman.