Case Digest (G.R. No. 116514)
Facts:
People of the Philippines v. Romeo Maguad y Nicor, Nelson Llonor, Peter Doe and Johnny Doe, G.R. No. 116514, March 13, 1998, Supreme Court Third Division, Romero, J., writing for the Court.On August 14, 1991 an information charged Romeo Maguad, Nelson Llonor, and two unidentified men (Peter Doe and Johnny Doe) with the special complex crime described as rape with murder and robbery for the alleged abduction, rape, stabbing and theft involving Josephine Pelayo on or about July 30, 1991 in La Carlota City. At arraignment both Maguad and Llonor pleaded not guilty.
At trial the prosecution presented four principal witnesses. Thirteen‑year‑old Nestor Samban testified that at about 8:30 a.m. he saw three men, whom he identified in court as Maguad and Llonor among them, seize Pelayo and drag her toward a canal; Samban said he fled, returned around 11:00 a.m., and was thereafter threatened. The trial court later noted material inconsistencies between Samban’s testimony and his prior police affidavit. Ireneo Cabuguason, a 36‑year‑old laborer, testified that at about 9:30 a.m. he saw a man he identified as Nelson Llonor on top of Pelayo, with the latter’s pants lowered and a knife at her neck; Cabuguason fled and later identified the accused in court. Patrolman Remegio Reloj found Pelayo’s body in a sugarcane field on July 31 with her skirt inserted in her vagina and fourteen stab wounds; Reloj confiscated a bloodstained knife from Llonor which matched punctures on the victim’s clothing. Dr. Edwin Jayme’s autopsy described uniform stab wounds consistent with a single weapon.
The defense raised alibi. Maguad testified he was harvesting rice in another hacienda with a coworker. Llonor testified he was at home cooking at 9:00 a.m., then on his security rounds (Fields 17–23) until 11:30 a.m., and named Noemi and Grace Isidoro and Cresenciano Esmedia as persons who could have corroborated his alibi; none testified. The trial court discredited Samban for inconsistencies but credited Cabuguason’s positive identification and the forensic match of the knife; it acquitted Maguad for lack of evidence, convicted Llonor of the special complex cr...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the trial court err in crediting identification evidence and convicting Nelson Llonor of the special complex crime of rape with homicide?
- Was the trial court’s award of P100,000 in damages proper?
- Was the trial court correct to treat the charge as the special complex crime of rape with homicide rather than r...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)