G.R. No. L-21445; May 30, 1967
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MONICO REYES, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

In the evening of December 31, 1953, to January 1, 1954, at around midnight, Lucila Castro was walking home from work in Floridablanca, Pampanga. The appellant, Monico Reyes, who had previously courted her, approached her, grabbed her by the waist, and forcibly dragged her into his nearby house. Lucila resisted, begged for release, and cried for help. Appellant brandished a weapon to warn bystanders not to intervene. Upon learning of the incident, Lucila’s father, Domingo Castro, and brother, Juan Castro, rushed to appellant’s house. Finding the door closed, Domingo shouted a warning, to which appellant replied, “do not come up, your daughter will die.” Juan peeped through a hole in the wall and saw appellant holding Lucila with his left hand and stabbing her with a knife in his right hand. Forcing entry through a window, they found Lucila lying on the floor. As Domingo approached, appellant confronted him with the knife. Juan struggled with appellant for the weapon, and with Domingo’s help, wrested the knife away. Juan then stabbed appellant multiple times until the blade broke off in his body and subsequently clubbed him with a table leg until he was motionless. Lucila, who had a stab wound on her chest, was taken to a physician who declared her dying; she died en route to the hospital from heart failure due to internal hemorrhage.
The defense presented a different version, claiming that appellant and Lucila were sweethearts who had agreed to elope that evening. According to the defense, Lucila voluntarily went to appellant’s house, and when her father and brother arrived, she tried to intervene. The defense alleged that Juan accidentally stabbed Lucila during an attempt to attack appellant and that father and son then assaulted appellant, leaving him for dead.
The trial court rejected the defense’s version, crediting the prosecution witnesses—Lucila’s co-worker and neighbors—who testified to the forcible abduction, Lucila’s resistance and cries for help, and the absence of any motive for them to falsely testify. The court found no evidence of a mutual romantic relationship or reason for an elopement, noting Lucila was of age and no one opposed their union. The court also found the claim of accidental stabbing by Juan implausible, as the father and son’s sole intent was to rescue Lucila and they had superior strength, making the use of a weapon unnecessary and risky.

ISSUE

Whether the trial court correctly convicted appellant Monico Reyes of the complex crime of illegal detention with murder.

RULING

Yes, the trial court’s decision is affirmed. The crime committed is serious illegal detention under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code, qualified by murder. The evidence conclusively establishes that appellant forcibly abducted and detained Lucila Castro and then stabbed her, causing her death. The killing was attended by the aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength, as the attack was made by a man with a deadly weapon upon an unarmed and defenseless woman. This circumstance would ordinarily warrant the imposition of the death penalty. However, for lack of the necessary votes for capital punishment, the penalty next lower in degree—life imprisonment—is properly imposed. The court also upholds the award of indemnity to the heirs of the deceased. The defense’s claim of elopement and accidental stabbing was correctly disbelieved by the trial court.