PEOPLE VS MADLANGBAYAN
Criminal Case
Digest
Digested Cases
Criminal Law
FACTS: Antonio Madlangbayan y Bonet was convicted of the crime of robbery with homicide and there being proved the aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength without any mitigating circumstance to offset the same, the Lower Court sentences him to DEATH
On
appeal, the accused who admitted to being a member of the Bahala Na Gang, now
maintains that his extrajudicial confession was coerced from him. He claims
that when he refused to affix his thumbmark to Exhibit E, he was boxed by
Patrolman Cuevas and his companions.
ISSUE:
Whether the extrajudicial confession is
sufficient to sustain the conviction.
HELD:
The
Rules of Court provide that "An extrajudicial confession made by an
accused shall not be sufficient ground for conviction, unless corroborated by
evidence of corpus delicti.
In
this case, from the evidence of the prosecution, apart from the extrajudicial
confession of the appellant, the fact of the commission of the crime of robbery
with homicide, is well and sufficiently established. Said fact, which is the corpus
delicti of the offense charged has been proved by the uncontradicted
testimonies of Elywelyn Fallarme and the police officers assigned to this case,
as well as by the testimony of Dr. Abelardo Lucero, the police medical
examiner, as to the death of Enrique Fallarme, together with the documentary
evidence of the necropsy report stating the post- mortem findings, including
the cause of death.
Finally,
it is manifest that the accused together with his co-assailants who
unfortunately have not been apprehended, took advantage of their superior
strength, when the four of them, two of whom were armed with bladed weapons
surrounded and stabbed the unarmed, helpless and unsuspecting victim. The
aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength was correctly
appreciated by the trial court.
WHEREFORE, finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of robbery the homicide, the judgment under review is hereby affirmed in its entirety.
SO ORDERED.
WHEREFORE, finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of robbery the homicide, the judgment under review is hereby affirmed in its entirety.
SO ORDERED.
