Testimony began today in the murder trial of Tari Ramirez, arrested in 2006 in Mexico for the 2000 stabbing murder of his ex-girlfriend in San Francisco.

Ramirez, 35, is accused of stabbing Claire Joyce Tempongko, a 28-year-old jewelry store clerical worker, in front of her 10-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, in her Richmond District apartment on Oct. 22, 2000.

Ramirez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested by the FBI on June 15, 2006, in Cancun, Mexico.

The case brought scrutiny from domestic violence victim advocates because of Ramirez's long history of domestic violence.

Police had arrested Ramirez three times in 1999 for assaulting Tempongko, and he spent four months in jail for one of the arrests.

A year after her murder, Tempongko's family sued the city of San Francisco, alleging that police had failed to transmit their reports to the city's adult probation department, district attorney's office and superior court.

The city settled the lawsuit in 2004 by awarding $500,000 to Tempongko's two children.

Bay City News