Court of Appeals upholds murder conviction

CEBU, Philippines - The Court of Appeals in Cebu has affirmed the conviction of a man for killing his neighbor in 2008.

Associate Justice Maria Elisa Sempio Diy, in her 12-page decision, found no ground to reverse the ruling of the trial court convicting Brix Satinitigan for murder for killing Vicente Lauron, a resident of Carcar City.

 â€œAfter a judicious study of the records at hand, we are fully convinced that there is sufficient ground to uphold the conviction of accused-appellant. The record reveals that the State was able to overcome the constitutional presumption of innocence by the required proof beyond reasonable doubt,” the decision reads.

 In 2011, Regional Trial Court Judge Gilbert Moises convicted Satinitigan and sentenced him to 20 to 40 years imprisonment. Satinitigan was also meted to pay the heirs of the victim P9,000 as actual damages; P75,000 as civil indemnity and P50,000 as moral damages.

 Satinitigan, however, appealed his conviction citing the prosecution failure to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt and that the identity of the assailant of the victim was not positively established.

 â€œIdentity of the assailant was not established by clear and positive evidence, but was merely based from a testimony of a lone alleged eyewitness who barely knew the identity of the accused,” he stated.

But Diy, on her decision, said that based on the testimony of Sonia Ocaña, the sister of the victim, she saw Satinitigan shoot the victim.

“We find no cogent reason to reverse the trial court in giving credence to the testimony of prosecution witness Sonia. Sonia’s testimony was consistent and clear. There is no motive for the lone eyewitness to falsely accuse accused-appellant,” she ruled, adding that mere relationship of a witness to the victim does not impair her credibility.

 Ocaña, in her statement, said she was outside of the house of Eliseo dela Cerna watching a mahjong game wherein her brother was among the players.

At about 12 noon, she said she saw the suspect approaching while onboard a motorcycle driven by an unidentified person. She said that Satinitigan then alighted from the motorcycle and walked towards the mahjong area and shot the victim.

Satinitigan denied the accusations claiming that someone else killed his neighbor.  (FREEMAN)