The saga involving TV personality Vhong Navarro on one side and businessman Cedric Lee and freelance model Deniece Cornejo on the other took a wild turn Thursday when a one-time beauty queen aspirant appeared and accused the popular comedian of rape.
The woman, identified as Roxanne Cabanero (also Roxanne Acosta), claimed that Navarro raped her four years ago. Her lawyer Virgilio Batalla told local reporters that his client was inspired by Cornejo to come out publicly. He has refused to give details about the case so far since he does not have a “clearance” to do so.
According to Bombo Radyo, Cabanero joined Binibining Pilipinas back in 2011 but was disqualified after nude photos of her spread online. Some of those compromising images are once more circulating through social networking sites.
Alma Mallonga, Navarro’s attorney, confirmed the case in an interview with Aquino and Abunda Tonight two days ago. Watch excerpts of the interview here. Lee, for his part, has denied that he has something to do with Cabanero’s decision to pursue a case against the It’s Showtime host.
The latest case against Navarro comes at a time when the camp of Lee and Cornejo appears to be losing ground. Cornejo’s claim that Navarro tried to rape her was seriously undercut when a series of CCTV footages taken from her condominium unit was released showing that Lee’s group came just a few minutes after Navarro arrived.
Late last week, another CCTV clip was released where Lee can be seen affectionately kissing Cornejo on both her cheeks – which put a spotlight on the true relationship between them. Compounding these troubles is the fact that Lee’s designated case spokesperson, lawyer Raymond Fortun, suddenly quit his job since “he couldn’t do the work anymore.”
