The events in this case happened in 1908, during the American regime, yet it is still quoted today as the textbook example of a "mistake of fact". The accused was absolved of stabbing and killing the person trying to enter his room. He thought it was a robber, but it was only his roommate.
G.R. No. L-5272
15 Phil 488
March 19, 1910
Petitioner: The United States
Respondent: Ah Chong
FACTS: Ah Chong was a cook in Ft. McKinley. He was
afraid of bad elements. One evening, before going to bed, he locked himself in
his room by placing a chair against the door. After having gone to bed, he was
awakened by someone trying to open the door. He called out twice "Who is
there?", but received no answer. Fearing that the intruder was a robber,
he leaped from his bed and called out again, "If you enter the room, I
will kill you." But at that precise moment, he was struck by the chair that
had been placed the door and believing that he was being attacked he seized a
kitchen knife, struck and fatally wounded the intruder who turned out to be his
roommate. Thereupon, he called to his employers and rushed back int the room to
secure the bandages to bind up the wound. Defendant was charged with murder.
ISSUE: Whether or not Ah Chong may be held criminally
responsible for murder in the case at bar.
HELD: The Court held that Ah Chong must be
acquitted.
Had the facts been as Ah Chong believed them to be, he would
have been justified in killing the intrude. Par. 1, Art XI of the Revised Penal
Code (RPC) provides that in order for the act to be justified, the requisites
must be present.
Requisites (Honest Mistake of Fact):
1) Unlawful agression on the part of the victim
2) Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or
repel the unlawful aggression
3) Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person
defending himself
If the victim was really a robber, forcing his way into the
room of Ah Chong, there would have been unlawful aggression, there would have
been a necessity on the part of Ah Chong to defend himself and/or his home and
the knife would have been a reasonable means to prevent or repel such
aggression.
The act done by Ah Chong was merely an act done due to
Honest Mistake of Fact. The Court acquits Ah Chong.
