Court junks case vs son accused of killing his pa

CEBU, Philippines — For insufficiency of evidence, the Regional Trial Court has acquitted a son accused of conspiring with two unidentified gunmen to kill his father and wounding a relative in Crossing, Talima, Olango Island in Lapu-Lapu City over a year ago.

Judge Ruelo Saladaga of RTC Branch 69 in Lapu-Lapu City ruled that the prosecution failed to present enough evidence to prove that the accused, Kharl Filkevin Tongco, conspired with the two unidentified gunmen in killing his own father, Leoncio Tongco, and the wounding of his relative, Bianca Zurfluh on September 26, 2022.

“This court is not convinced that conspiracy, whether express or implied, was present in this case,” Saladaga’s decision reads.

Tongco was charged with parricide and frustrated murder over the shooting to death of his father and the wounding of Zurfluh.  The prosecution presented five witnesses to prove Tongco’s alleged conspiracy with his father’s killers.

But the court dismissed the testimonies of the witnesses, saying these were insufficient to prove that the accused acted in “unison of intent to kill and an interwoven design to kill the victims.” In fact, the court believes that, “It may be inferred from the testimonies of the witnesses that the first gunman acted on his own impulse at the scene of the crime.”

“None of the other two (2) gunmen, including the accused Kharl, released a gunshot or

physically assaulted any person in the gathering on 26 September 2022. All the acts constituting the killing of Leoncio and the wounding of Bianca were all done by the first gunman alone,” the court ruled.

What the prosecution had allegedly shown during trial was that the accused pointed his gun at his relatives while shouting “get down, get down, this is the police.”

According to the court, Kharl’s pointing a gun does not prove his involvement in the crimes and he did not even say anything else to threaten anyone, nor did he stop anyone from leaving or helping the victims.

The victims were allegedly having a private gathering in the evening of September 26, 2022 when the accused and two other unidentified gunmen barged into the place pretending to be police officers and opened fire at the victims. The attack led to the death of Kharl’s father and the wounding of Zurfluh. –/FPL (FREEMAN)