Saturday, November 05, 2005
High Court affirms murder conviction of 2 Apas residents
Seeing no reason to reverse its decision, the Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of two residents of Barangay Apas, Cebu City for double murder and even increased the penalty.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna, the SC First Division ruled that the Regional Trial Court’s decision to convict Mario and Juanito Quirol was proper.
The two were found responsible for the death of Benjamin Silva and Roel Ngujo on Dec. 5, 1993 at the old Lahug airport.
“All of their arguments, however, pertain to alleged misapprehension of facts by the trial court, followed by the offering of unreasonable surmises and conjectures, which cannot justifiably be used to overturn a conviction,” the SC ruling read.
But the SC modified the penalty, increasing it to two life imprisonment terms. The trial court judge earlier imposed a penalty of two reclusion temporal—12 years to 20 years per term—for the Quirols.
The SC said the death penalty law was not yet approved at the time the crime was committed. The penalty for murder that time was reclusion temporal to death.
And since there was no aggravating or mitigating circumstance to the incident, the SC said that the proper penalty is reclusion perpetua, a jail term of 20 years and one day to 40 years.
Witness
The Quirols earlier questioned the testimony of prosecution eyewitness Wilson Cruz, who claimed that Quirol and another accused, PO3 Jed Daloso, who is still at large, connived in the crime.
Mario denied he was at the crime scene, saying he did not leave the benefit dance at the time of the crime.
Juanito, for his part, admitted he was with Daloso and the two victims at the old Lahug airport, because he accompanied the policeman in bringing the victims to the police station for alleged theft.
While walking at the airport, he heard gunshots. He ran. Juanito claimed he did not see who fired the shot or if there was anybody hit.
But the SC said the findings of the trial court should be respected.
“(The Quirols) cannot expect us to accept these contentions without a shred of supporting validation and reverse their convictions...” the SC ruling read. (GN)
(November 5, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
