This case has been cited 1 times or more.
|
2000-10-11 |
BELLOSILLO, J. |
||||
| This Court however finds that the trial court erred in appreciating the qualifying circumstance of treachery. Where the lone eyewitness Romeo Barsaga did not see how the assault on the victim began, the trial court cannot conclude that treachery attended the commission of the crime.[13] Any doubt as to the existence of treachery must be resolved in favor of the accused. However, despite the absence of treachery, the factual circumstances of the crime show that the killing of the victim was qualified by abuse of superior strength, which is expressly alleged in the Information. Thus, the two (2) accused-appellants did not only enjoy superiority in number but they also used bolos while their victim was unarmed.[14] There was physical disparity between the protagonists and abuse of superior strength was obvious. The force used by the aggressors was out of proportion to the means of defense available to the victim.[15] | |||||