FE ABELLA y PERPETUA, Petitioner, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent; G.R. No. 198400 October 7, 2013

TOPIC: FRUSTRATED STAGE

ACCUSED	CRIME	VICTIM	SC RULING	SENTENCE
Fe Abella	Frustrated Homicide	Benigno Abella (accused’s Younger brother)	GUILTY (Art. 249 Homicide, in relation to Art. 250, frustrated)	Imprisonment of 6 months and 1 day to 6 years of prison correccional as minimum to 8 years and 1 day of prison mayor in its medium period. Ordered to pay P25,000 as moral damages and P25,000 as temporal damages.

FACTS:

1. Benigno was watching TV in his house when Roger Laranjo arrived and asked him to pacify petitioner Fe whom Benigno and Amelita found fighting with Alejandro  and Dionisio in a nearby store. Benigno convinced petitioner to go home.

2. Benigno and Amelita then dropped by the housed of Alejandro and Dionisio to apologize for petitioner’s conduct.

3. While they were in Alejandro’s house. Petitioner Fe arrived with two scythes, one in each of his hands. Benigno instructed the 2 to run away and they complied. The petitioner wanted to enter Alejandro’s house but the latter blocked him and asked him not to proceed. The petitioner then pointed the scythe, which he held in his left hand, in the direction of Benigno’s stomach, while the scythe in the right hand was used to hack the latter’s neck once. Benigno fell to the ground and was immediately taken to the hospital15 while the petitioner ran to chase Alejandro.

4. Benigno was taken to the hospital, incurred P10,000 for hospitalization, and claimed he could no longer move his left hand incapacitating him to earn as a carpenter.

5. RTC found petitioner FE guilty of Frustrated Homicide under Art. 249 in relation to Art. 50 and Art. 6 of the RPC. He was sentenced to suffer an indeterminate penalty of Six (6) years and One (1) day to Eight (8) years of prision mayor as minimum to Ten (10) years and One (1) day to Twelve (12) years of prision mayor as maximum; to indemnify offended-party complainant Benigno Abella the sum of Ten Thousand ([P]10,000.00) Pesos for the medical expenses incurred; to pay the sum of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ([P]100,000.00) PESOS as consequential damages and to pay the costs.

6. This was affirmed by the CA  but  modified the sentence to "imprisonment of six (6) months and one (1) day to six (6) years of prision correccional as minimum, to eight (8) years and one (1) day of prision mayor in its medium period, as maximum. 

ISSUE:

W/N RTC and CA erred in ruling that petitioner is guilty of Frustrated Homicide instead of his acquittal or conviction to less serious physical Injuries.

 

RULING:

NO. The judgment is affirmed. Petitioner Fe is guilty of Frustrated Homicide.

In cases of frustrated homicide, the main element is the accused’s intent to take his victim’s life. The prosecution has to prove this clearly and convincingly to exclude every possible doubt regarding homicidal intent. And the intent to kill is often inferred from, among other things, the means the offender used and the nature, location, and number of wounds he inflicted on his victim.

Petitioner invoked the doctrine in Pentecostes, Jr. that homicidal intent is absent when the accused shot the victim only once when there was an opportunity to do otherwise and argued that it be applied to him since if he had intended to kill Benigno, he could have immediately hacked him to ensure his death and not leave right after the blow to chase Alejandro instead. This is flawed since in the former’s case, the victim was shot only once in the arm, a non-vital part of the body. The attending physician certified that the injury would require medical attendance for ten days, but the victim was in fact promptly discharged from the hospital the following day.

In the present case, Benigno sustained an 11-centimeter long hacking wound in the neck and a 4-cm long incised wound in his left hand caused by the unsterile scythe used by the petitioner. Dr. Ardiente testified that "it is possible to have complications resulting from these injuries because the wounds were extensive and they were big and they were open wounds, so there is a possibility of infections resulting from these kinds of wounds, and the instrument used was not a sterile instrument contaminated with other things." Although no complications developed from Benigno’s wounds which could have caused his death, he was still confined in the hospital for a period of 17 days from September 6, 1998 to September 23, 1998.

Thus, the Court agrees with CA that usage of scythe was determinative of the homicidal intent when the hacking was done. A single hacking blow in the neck with a scythe could suffice to behead a person and leave him lifeless. Even though no complications resulted from Benigno’s gaping wounds in the neck and left hand, the injuries he sustained were obviously fatal considering the period of his hospitalization.

Intent to kill is not negated by petitioner’s act of refraining from further hacking Benigno and running after Alejandro instead. The potential fatal blow was already delivered and no desistance was present. Timely medical intervention precluded Benigno’s death which is a cause independent of the petitioner’s will.

Thus, no reversible error was committed by the CA in affirming the RTC’s conviction of the petitioner of the crime charged.