GR 35756; (March, 1932) (Digest)
G.R. No. 35756; March 23, 1932
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. VICTORIO GULES (alias VICTOR), defendant-appellant.
FACTS
The accused, Victorio Gules, was charged with murder for stabbing Dr. Jose Hipe with a bolo on February 23, 1931, in Cabalian, Leyte, causing the doctor’s death 18 days later. The incident arose from a dispute over medical treatment. Dr. Hipe had been treating Gules and his children. After one child died, Gules lost faith and sought a quack doctor. Hipe, persuaded by Gules’s wife, returned but later refused to continue treatment unless paid for medicines. When Gules pleaded lack of money and Hipe insisted on leaving, Gules took a bolo and stabbed Hipe in the back as he was descending the stairs. Gules admitted the act but claimed he was obfuscated.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly convicted the accused of murder and properly considered the mitigating circumstance of obfuscation.
RULING
Yes, the conviction for murder is affirmed. The crime is murder qualified by alevosia (treachery), as the attack was from behind while the victim was leaving, ensuring no risk to the attacker. The mitigating circumstance of obfuscation was correctly appreciated in favor of the accused, with no aggravating circumstances to offset it. However, the penalty imposed by the trial court (17 years and one day of cadena temporal) is modified. Applying the penalty under the Revised Penal Code, which was reclusion temporal, and considering the mitigating circumstance, the proper penalty is seventeen years, four months, and one day of reclusion temporal. The judgment is affirmed in all other respects, including the indemnity and costs.
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