This case has been cited 6 times or more.
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2015-12-09 |
PEREZ, J. |
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| In addition, accused-appellant's defense of denial, like alibi, is inherently weak and if uncorroborated, is impotent. It constitutes self-serving negative evidence which cannot be given greater evidentiary weight than the declaration of credible witnesses who testified on affirmative matters.[22] | |||||
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2014-01-15 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Time and again, this Court has deferred to the trial court's factual findings and evaluation of the credibility of witnesses, especially when affirmed by the CA, in the absence of any clear showing that the trial court overlooked or misconstrued cogent facts and circumstances that would justify altering or revising such findings and evaluation.[12] This is because the trial court's determination proceeds from its first-hand opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witnesses, their conduct and attitude under grilling examination, thereby placing the trial court in the unique position to assess the witnesses' credibility and to appreciate their truthfulness, honesty and candor.[13] But here Ricardo has not projected any strong and compelling reasons to sway the Court into rejecting or revising such factual findings and evaluation in his favor. | |||||
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2013-07-01 |
DEL CASTILLO, J. |
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| Under these circumstances, the rule that "where the prosecution eyewitness was familiar with both the victim and the accused, and where the locus criminis afforded good visibility, and where no improper motive can be attributed to the witness for testifying against the accused, then [his] version of the story deserves much weight,"[40] thus applies. We are therefore convinced that appellant's culpability for the killing of the victim was duly established by the testimony of the lone prosecution witness, Valenciano. | |||||
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2013-03-20 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| The award of moral damages to Jayson is appropriate. Such damages are granted in criminal cases resulting in physical injuries.[25] The amount of ?5,000.00 fixed by the lower courts as moral damages is consistent with the current jurisprudence.[26] | |||||
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2012-11-14 |
PERALTA, J. |
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| Anent the contention of petitioners that the CA failed to consider the testimony of the doctor who performed the autopsy in its entirety, the same is without any merit. What really needs to be proven in a case when the victim dies is the proximate cause of his death. Proximate cause has been defined as "that cause, which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred."[24] The autopsy report indicated that the cause of the victim's death is multiple organ failure. According to Dr. Wilson Moll Lee, the doctor who conducted the autopsy, the kidneys suffered the most serious damage. Although he admitted that autopsy alone cannot show the real culprit, he stated that by having a long standing infection caused by an open wound, it can be surmised that multiple organ failure was secondary to a long standing infection secondary to stab wound which the victim allegedly sustained.[25] What is important is that the other doctors who attended to the wounds sustained by the victim, specially those on the left and right lumbar area, opined that they affected the kidneys and that the wounds were deep enough to have caused trauma on both kidneys. On that point, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), in its Comment,[26] is correct in stating the following: 9.3.1 Petitioners-appellants contend that the Court of Appeals failed to consider the testimony of Dr. Lee for the defense. Dr. Lee opines on cross-examination that the stab wounds sustained by Bahillo are not the cause of his death because he lived for quite sometime and that there was no direct injury on his vital organs. There was, however, a qualification to Dr. Lee's statement on cross-examination. He opines that he could only connect the stab wounds with the infection and death of Bahillo if he has knowledge of the past medical records of the patient. Petitioners-appellants' reliance of the said statement of Dr. Lee is misplaced because the doctor only examined the cadaver of Bahillo. This explains why he has no direct knowledge of Bahillo's medical records. The opinions of the other doctors who testified for the prosecution and who examined Bahillo while he was still alive are more conclusive than those of Dr. Lee. They had direct knowledge of the causal relation between the stab wounds, the kidney failure and the death of Bahillo.[27] | |||||
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2011-12-14 |
DEL CASTILLO, J. |
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| Appellants' contention that treachery was not alleged with certainty in the Information is also devoid of merit. In People v. Villacorta [35] the Court appreciated treachery as an aggravating circumstance, it having been alleged in the Information and proved during trial that the "x x x accused, armed with a sharpened bamboo stick, with intent to kill, treachery and evident premeditation, did then and there willfully and feloniously attack, assault and stab with the said weapon one DANILO SALVADOR CRUZ x x x." | |||||