Septuagenarian gets 14 years for murder

The court has sentenced a 76-year-old former tricycle driver in Carcar City to 14 years imprisonment yesterday after it found him guilty of killing a man who courted his married daughter five years ago.

Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Judge Olegario Sarmiento Jr. rejected the alibi of Prescillano Sagolili, a resident of barangay Valladolid in Carcar City who denied shooting to death Jaime Reyes in the evening of January 22, 2003.

Sagolili claimed that it was impossible for him to kill the victim because he was visiting his son in barangay Cogon, a place that could be reached by 10 to 15 minutes on motorcycle.

But Sarmiento gave more credence to the testimonies of the two prosecution witnesses, William Lanas and Vidal Oamilda.

The two witnesses testified before the court that they heard Sagolili’s daughter Naome shout, “nganong gipusil nimo siya Tay!” referring to the accused, after the shooting.

Reyes was killed after he visited Naome at her house at 8 p.m. For several times, Sagolili had reportedly warned his daughter to distance herself from other men while her husband was still in jail.

Sarmiento believed that it was not the first time that Reyes visited Naome and that the victim had not courted her prior to the incident.

The judge even believed that “this relationship between Naome and Jaime Reyes is the reason for the accused to commit the crime, since according to Naome, her father had already advised her to distance herself from other men.”

Although both witnesses did not see the actual firing, they saw the accused still holding the gun and walked towards his house after the incident.

Meanwhile, in another case, Sarmiento dismissed the murder case filed against Aldren Saavedra, Marino Gabuya and Jason Gumban, who were indicted for murder for the death of Johnson Sotto on April 16, 2002 in Cebu City.

Sarmiento’s ruling clearing the accused of the charges was due to the prosecution’s failure to present the alleged witness during cross examination by the defense.

“Identities of all the accused were not sufficiently and positively established by credible eye-witnesses to the crime,” Sarmiento ruled. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM