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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Waiter gets life for killing lady lawyer
By Rimaliza Opiña
BAGUIO CITY -- The city's heinous crimes court sentenced to life imprisonment a waiter for the killing of lady lawyer Victoria Sturch.
Judge Ruben Ayson also ordered Reynaldo Hernando to pay Sturch's heirs P50,000 in civil indemnity for her death, P208,000 for actual damages, and P50,000 in moral damages for the anguish suffered by her family.
Sturch sustained a lone gunshot wound in the head.
Court records showed that last April 13, 2004, Sturch was flagging down a taxicab at the corner of Harrison Road and Claudio Street when the accused shot her.
The taxicab driver, who witnessed Sturch's shooting, surfaced after four days and became the prosecution's witness.
A cell card vendor stationed at Harrison Road was also immediately investigated by police as she too, witnessed Sturch's killing.
In mug shots and video footages shown by the police, both witnesses identified Hernando, who was then working as a waiter, as the one who shot Sturch.
Hernando denied the allegation during his arraignment, claiming he was on vacation in Dagupan City in Pangasinan when the incident happened.
Hernando's alibi, however, failed to convince the court, which stressed that the positive identification by the witnesses and the expert findings of the doctor who autopsied Sturch's body all point to Hernando as the one who committed the crime.
"Alibi is the weakest of all defenses for it is easy to fabricate and difficult to disprove. Alibi cannot prevail over the positive identification of the accused by the eyewitnesses," the court stressed.
It also pointed out that it is not impossible for Hernando to be present when the killing took place. The court said Dagupan is only a few hours away from Baguio. As such, it is still possible for him to be in Baguio and "commit the crime."
"The crime committed is murder. The qualifying circumstance of treachery was present. The treacherous attack was deliberately adopted. The victim was defenseless and could not retaliate and there was no danger to the life of the accused as he was pointing the gun from behind the victim," it added. (Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex)
(June 21, 2006 issue)
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