Judge Jaime Salazar Jr. of Regional Trial Court Branch 103 found Alfredo Ramos Jr. y Montalla, alias Jong, guilty of robbery with homicide charges for killing his maternal grandmother Melissa Montallana, a retired public school teacher.
Salazar also ordered Ramos to pay the heirs of the victim the sum of P255,750 for civil indemnity, for lack of sufficient evidence to pin him down.
Ramos, who was clad in yellow shirt and maong pants, cried out loud as the clerk of court read the guilty verdict against him yesterday morning inside the jampacked courtroom of Salazar.
Court records showed that the body of Montallana was found lying face down on the sala of her house located at 15 San Antonio de Padua st., Villa Sabina Subdivision, Talipapa, Novaliches in Quezon City on June 10, 1999.
Investigators said the victim’s head was placed inside a black plastic bag, with her mouth covered with packing tape and her hands tied behind her.
Her two feet were also tied with yellow electrical cord while a bloodied hammer was beside her. The house was ransacked with all the drawers inside all the rooms forcibly opened.
The court also established that Ramos and his three friends were under the influence of drugs when they ransacked the house and killed the victim.
Investigators failed to establish the identities of the other killers.
Ramos refused to take the witness stand to deny or admit the charges slapped against him.
"The stark silence of Jong adds to the court’s satisfaction that he did have a hand in Melissa’s untimely, gruesome passing and stealing of her valuables as charged in this case," Salazar said in his 15-page decision. – Cecille Suerte Felipe