G.R. No. 1827. January 25, 1905

The defendant in this case was charged with the crime of illegal
detention, in that he did, on the night of the 1st day of September,
1903, in the pueblo of Santa Isabel, Province of Bulacan, voluntarily
and criminally sequestrate one Prudencio Balagtas and illegally detain
him for more than twenty days, in which act of sequestration he was
aided by a band of five other armed persons.

The defendant was tried by the judge of the Court of First Instance
of the Province of Bulacan on the 19th day of February, 1904, and was
sentenced to be imprisoned for the period of eleven years of prision mayor,
and to pay 500 pesos as indemnity to the wife of Prudencio Balagtas,
and to pay the costs, in accordance with the provisions of article 481
of the Penal Code. From this decision the said defendant appealed to
this court.

The testimony shows that on or about the night of the 4th of
September, 1903, the defendant, with five companions, went to the house
of Prudencio Balagtas, in the pueblo of Santa Isabel, Province of
Bulacan, entered the house of the latter, and took and carried him
away, and that up to the time of the trial of the said cause (February
19, 1904) none of the members of the family of the said Prudencio
Balagtas had seen him or heard from him; that at the time the defendant
and his five companions entered the house of Prudencio Balagtas and
carried him away the defendant was armed with a revolver and one of his
companions was armed with a gun.

The defendant was the only witness offered for the defense. The only defense which he offered was that of an alibi.

The court below, after hearing the evidence in said cause, found the
defendant guilty of the crime charged in said complaint, with the
existence of the aggravating circumstances of superiority and
nocturnity, and that the crime was committed with the aid of other
armed persons.

The attorney for the defendant, in his brief in this court, alleges
that in the decision of the court no error had been committed
sufficient to justify the appeal of the defendant.

Upon examination of the proof presented in said cause we find that
the sentence of the judge of the Court of First Instance of the
Province of Bulacan should be affirmed. So ordered.

Arellano, C,J., Torres, Mapa, and Carson, JJ., concur.