Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Taxi driver gets life term after getting convicted of selling drugs
A TAXI driver will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was found guilty of selling three sticks of marijuana.
Danilo Baylon, alias “Tatay,” was also fined P500,000.
Regional Trial Court Judge Gabriel Ingles, in his decision, said Baylon failed to convince the court of his innocence by saying he was a victim of a personal grudge.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
‘Lucky charm’
Baylon had testified that SPO1 Elmo Rosales ordered his arrest and charged him in court after he refused to serve as the “lucky charm” of the policeman, who was having bad luck in cockfights.
Baylon told the court that aside from being a taxi driver, he also sold fighting cocks.
He said that prior to his arrest, he declined Rosales’ request to be the latter’s bet-taker.
P30T demand
He also accused the policemen of mauling him after his arrest, adding that the officers demanded P30,000 for his release.
His wife corroborated some of his statements, but prosecution witness PO2 Julius Regis insisted that they caught Baylon during a legitimate buy-bust.
“In sum, between the testimony of PO2 Julius Regis, on one hand, that the accused sold to him and his asset three marijuana cigarettes, which is corroborated by the presentation of said marijuana cigarettes and the buy-bust money and the testimonies of the accused and his wife, on the other hand, the court gives credence to the former,” read Ingles’ decision. (KNT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. ( May 30, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
