Ric Sapnu reports for the Philippine Star on the use of polygraphy in a high-profile murder case in the Philippines. Excerpt:
Sr. Supt. Ismael Rafanan, Pampanga police director said that Siegfried Wittman, 68, a German national, earlier a suspect in the killing of American tourist Brian Thomas Smith, passed the lie detector test conducted by the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Olivas.
But, according to PNP Crime Lab regional officer, Chief Inspector Alma Villasenor, the result of polygraph tests on Wittman is not conclusive, although she believes that Wittman is telling the truth.
Rafanan said Wittman underwent a polygraph test last Thursday to prove his claim that an armed small black man indeed perpetrated the said ambush.
Wittman earlier told police probers that a lone guman, whom he described as a small, black man, shot him and Smith last Jan. 31, from a distance of 200 meters.
But the autopsy conducted by the PNP Crime Lab on the body of Smith showed the presence of “tattooing,” meaning he was shot at close range in the nape, directed upwards.
The findings run counter to Wittman’s statement that they were shot by the gunman from an elevated portion of the hill 200 meters away.