G.R. No. 1937. March 10, 1905

In a complaint dated October 14, 1903, the provincial fiscal of
Bulacan charged Tomas Doon with the crime of murder. The complaint
stated that the defendant, on or about the month of April, 1902, with
known premeditation, did follow one Ramon Gotica into a field in the
barrio of Caruhatan, town of Polo, armed with a revolver and a bolo and
accompanied by an unknown person; that when he overtook said Gotica he
tied him around the elbows and conducted him to Sapangmalalim in said
barrio; that when he arrived there the defendant took the victim by the
hair and cut his throat with a bolo, the said Gotica dying instantly;
all contrary to law.

The case having been tried, the court below found the defendant guilty of the crime of murder and sentenced him to cadena perpetua
with the accessories and to pay the sum of 1,000 pesos to the heirs of
the deceased, and the costs. From this judgment the defendant appealed.

It appears from the evidence adduced in the case that some days
previous to the occurrence the defendant was heard to say that he would
kill said Ramon Gotica, but those who heard him did not pay any
attention to his statement, although it was public in the barrio that
Tomas Doon lived illicitly with Gotica’s wife; that between 8 and 9
o’clock on the morning of a day, the date of which being unknown, the
defendant was seen pursuing the deceased through the fields; that at
that time the defendant was armed with a bolo and carried some twine;
that two of the residents of the barrio, Jose Dorona and Apolonio
Padrinao, on seeing him come from his house, came out of their homes
and went toward the woods between the barrios of Caruhatan and Pugad
Babuy; that when the defendant reached the deceased, Gotica, he tied
him around the elbows and, taking him by the hair with one hand, struck
him with a bolo in the neck; that the deceased died instantly, and that
the defendant was accompanied by an unknown person.

All this was witnessed by the two neighbors aforesaid, who from
different points went after the defendant and concealed themselves
behind some bushes and saw the occurrence; that the place where the
murder was committed was between the barrios of Caruhatan and Pugad
Babuy, near Sapangmalalim, and about 300 yards from the house of the
witness Dorona; that between 9 and 10 o’clock on the evening of the
same day the defendant, Tomas Doon, accompanied by four other unknown
persons, called on the witness Apolonio Padrinao and commanded him to
follow them under pain of instant death; that Apolonio Padrinao did as
he was told and went with the defendant and his companions to the place
called Sapangmalalim; that when he arrived there the defendant told him
to take the corpse of Gotica, assited by the other companions of
defendant, to a small creek near there, and by order of the defendant
he covered the body with some leaves; that when he returned to his
house from that place the defendant and his companions warned him,
under threats of death, not to tell anything to anybody; that the
defendant was in the habit of going to the house of the deceased, and
that after the latter was killed defendant went to live in the house
with the wife of the deceased, Paula; that the defendant used to say he
was a captain under Contreras, a chief of the Katipunan, and for this
reason the inhabitants of the barrio feared him; they did not report
the occurrence to anybody because the defendant was armed as a captain
under Contreras, and because the latter’s band used to invade the
pueblos, the residents were afraid and very few remained in the barrio.

It appears, then, from the foregoing statements that it is a fact
fully proven in the present case that Ramon Gotica was killed
violently; that his killing was accompanied by the aggravating
circumstance of treachery (alevosia), because the defendant,
in order to insure the execution of the crime without any risk to
himself which might arise from whatever defense the victim might make,
tied him around the elbows, and while in this position he struck him
with the bolo in the neck, from which blow the deceased died. These
facts constitute the crime of murder provided for and punished by
article 403 of the Penal Code.

The liability of the defendant, Tomas Doon, as principal in the
commission of the said crime can not be denied, notwithstanding the
fact that he pleaded not guilty. The evidence introduced by the defense
has not succeeded in overcoming the evidence of the prosecution.
Further, the defendant has not succeeded in proving the truth of his
allegations, nor that the witnesses for the prosecution testified
falsely. The testimony of the widow of the deceased, far from showing
the nonexistence of the crime, corroborates the unexplained
disappearance of her husband. In the crime there are no aggravating or
extenuating circumstances to be considered.

The circumstance of premeditation can not be taken into account,
because it has not been established that the defendant premeditated or
had a deliberate intention to deprive the deceased of his life, and
therefore the penalty incurred by defendant must be imposed in its
medium degree.

By virtue of the reasons above stated we are of the opinion that the
judgment below should be affirmed, with the costs in this instance, it
being understood that Tomas Doon is also sentenced to the accessory
penalties provided for in paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 54 of the Penal
Code.

This case to be remanded to the court below with a certified copy of
this decision and of the judgment to be rendered in accordance
herewith. So ordered.

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