Case Summary (G.R. No. L-49430)
Charge and Facts of the Case
Belinda Lora was charged with serious illegal detention with murder under Article 267 in relation to Articles 248 and 48 of the Revised Penal Code. On May 28, 1975, the accused, acting as a private individual, allegedly unlawfully detained Oliver Yap for ransom purposes. She gagged the child’s mouth, placed him inside a cigarette box, covered it with sacks and other boxes, and left him in a storeroom of the Yap residence, leading to suffocation and death. The crime was claimed to be accompanied by aggravating circumstances, including abuse of superior strength, respect due to the victim’s age, commission in the victim's dwelling, abuse of confidence given her role as a housemaid, use of craft and disguise, and cruelty.
Trial Proceedings and Evidence
The trial court appointed a competent counsel for the accused due to the gravity of the offense. The accused pleaded guilty in her native Visayan dialect and the prosecution presented eight witnesses. The testimony and documentary evidence established the circumstances of the crime, including the ransom note, the attempts to recover the child through ransom money marked with initials, the arrest of the accused carrying the ransom money, and finally the discovery of the victim’s suffocated body in the storehouse.
Facts Established
The evidence showed that the accused was hired as housemaid on May 26, 1975; her duties included caring for Oliver Yap. The child went missing on May 28, 1975, alongside the accused, who issued ransom demands throughout that day. On May 29, 1975, the accused was arrested while trying to flee with the ransom money. The victim’s decomposing body was found on May 30, 1975, suffocated inside a cigarette box with mouth gagged, confirming death by asphyxia due to suffocation.
Nature of the Crime: Murder Qualified by Treachery
The Supreme Court clarified that the crime committed was not the complex crime of kidnapping with murder, but rather simple murder with an episode of serious illegal detention. Kidnapping requires a deprivation of liberty for a certain period and purpose; here, the victim died practically on the day of confinement, indicating no extended detention. The ransom demand did not convert the act into kidnapping with murder since the accused knew the victim would suffocate rapidly. Treachery was present due to the victim's tender age and the inhumane manner of killing.
Aggravating Circumstances
Several aggravating circumstances were recognized:
- Lack of respect due to tender age: The victim was a three-year-old child, protected by law from abuse.
- Cruelty: The victim was gagged, confined in a small box upside down, covered, and left to suffocate slowly.
- Abuse of confidence: The accused was the victim’s domestic helper and had a duty of care, which she betrayed by committing the crime.
Mitigating Circumstances
The only mitigating circumstance considered was the voluntary plea of guilt by the accused. Other claimed mitigating factors—lack of intent to kill, fear for her ill mother, and compassionate grounds due to her own children—were rejected, as the accused's actions clearly showed knowledge that the child would die.
Penalty and Decision
Due to the evident guilt, presence of qualifying treachery, and multiple aggravating circumstances versus only one mitigating circumstance, the Court upheld the death penalty imposed by the trial court. The crime was conclusively murder qualified by treachery and not kidnapping wi
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. L-49430)
Nature of the Case and Charges
- The accused, Belinda Lora y Vequizo, alias Lorena Sumilew, was charged in the Court of First Instance of Davao with serious illegal detention with murder pursuant to Articles 267, 248, and 48 of the Revised Penal Code.
- The amended information alleged the accused unlawfully detained the three-year-old minor Oliver Yap for ransom and, with intent to kill, committed murder by asphyxiation on or about May 28-29, 1975, in Davao City.
- The charge included aggravating circumstances: superior strength, disregard for the victim’s age, commission of the crime in the victim’s dwelling, abuse of confidence as a domestic helper, use of craft and disguise, and cruelty by intentionally augmenting the victim’s suffering.
Factual Background and Circumstances
- Belinda Lora was hired under the false name "Lorena Sumilew" as a housemaid by spouses Ricardo and Myrna Yap, beginning work on May 27, 1975. Her duties included caring for their son, Oliver Yap.
- On May 28, 1975, Oliver and the maid disappeared. A ransom note demanding money for the defendant’s mother’s hospitalization was found in the Yaps’ residence.
- Residence certificates found on the maid linked her to Digos, where the defendant’s mother’s supposed hospitalization was located.
- The Yaps received two ransom calls instructing them to pay P3,000 at specified locations with the promise that Oliver would be released safely.
- Marked ransom money was handed over at the Davao Regional Hospital, but Oliver was not delivered; the money disappeared.
- Following a subsequent ransom call demanding an additional P3,000, Mrs. Yap attempted to locate the accused at the Minrapco Terminal and successfully apprehended her after a chase.
- Police arrested the accused on board a bus to Surigao, recovering hidden marked ransom money on her person.
- On the morning of May 30, the victim’s body was discovered suffocated inside a Marlboro cigarette box in the Yaps’ bodega on the third floor of their house.
- Oliver’s mouth was gagged with stockings, and the box was concealed with sacks and other boxes.
Trial Proceedings and Plea
- The trial court appointed a competent counsel de oficio due to the gravity of the crime.
- The accused was arraigned, appeared with counsel, and entered a guilty plea in her native Visayan dialect.
- The prosecut