Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Cabbie gets 17 years for robbing, shooting, dumping girl off a hill
BECAUSE their victims didn’t die right away, a taxi driver and a shoemaker were proclaimed guilty of homicide and murder, respectively, yesterday.
The taxi driver’s victim identified him after she clung to a tree, on the verge of falling from a cliff. The shoemaker’s victim, on the other hand, spoke his name in a moment of consciousness before his death.
Both died days after the suspects shot them.
“In the early afternoon of Jan. 2, 2002, Ermita Magno was found dumped near the vicinity of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) in Upper Kalunasan, Cebu City, bloodied and holding on for dear life onto a small tree,” read the decision of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Gilbert Moises yesterday.
Magno was rescued by SPO1 Celso Gabunada, whom a habal-habal driver had informed about a woman’s body being dumped near BBRC.
Gabunada said that as he made his way to the spot, he saw a white Richielda Taxi being driven by a curly-haired, bearded man. He then found and helped Magno, whom he described as a plump woman.
Magno, breathing with difficulty, told him that the driver of the taxi she was riding robbed her of P30,000 and shot her thrice.
Abandoned
The driver, who was later identified as Danilo Aquino, dumped her off the cliff and sped away. She added that had she not pretended to be dead, Aquino might have finished her off.
Police, with the cooperation of Richard Cabucos, who owns Richielda Taxi, tried to locate Aquino, but he had already fled to Butuan City. The taxi was found abandoned that night along General Maxilom Ave., Cebu City.
Police caught Aquino only two years later, on June 23, 2004, when he traveled to Medellin, Cebu to attend a funeral.
Aquino denied having committed the crime and pinned it instead on a man who allegedly rode the cab with Magno.
Aquino claimed that Magno and her male companion kept quarreling about money. In their struggle over a bag that reportedly contained money, the man allegedly shot Magno, dumped her off in Barangay Kalunasan and got off at a gas station, threatening Aquino all the way.
Aquino further alleged that he later met Magno’s male companion, Reynaldo Palma, in jail. Palma allegedly testified in court to admit to the crime.
Surprise
But Magno’s daughter, Evelyn, said she had been with her mother in a mall that day, preparing a surprise for her father’s birthday.
Magno left ahead to prepare a party while Evelyn stayed behind to look for a gift.
Both Evelyn and Gabunada denied seeing a male passenger in the taxi.
In the murder case that Moises also resolved yesterday, Carcar shoemaker Arnold Canaya was accused of shooting to death fellow shoemaker Alenjun Dimaonahan.
Witnesses said Dimaonahan was in the middle of singing a song on karaoke when Canaya suddenly appeared and shot him on the night of Oct. 16, 1999.
It was only five months later, on March 27, 2000, that Canaya was arrested.
Canaya denied having committed the crime, but Dimaonahan’s mother said her son mentioned Canaya’s nickname “Tisoy” in a moment of consciousness before he died.
In both cases, Moises gave credence to positive identification made by the victims themselves over the defenses of denial and alibi.
Aquino, found guilty of homicide, has been sentenced with 10 to 17 years in prison and a payment of P50,000 to Magno’s heirs.
Prosecution
Moises dropped the charge of robbery because the prosecution failed to prove it.
On the other hand, Canaya, found guilty of murder, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Moises also ordered Canaya to pay P50,000 to Dimaonahan’s heirs - his live-in partner Gina Lauza, who is a sandal-maker, and their two adolescent children. (KAB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 29, 2008 issue)
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