Man gets death for killing cab driver

The Caloocan City Regional Trial Court sentenced on Tuesday a 32 year-old man to life imprisonment for killing a taxi driver last year in a subdivision along Quirino Highway, Caloocan.

Accused Apromiano Alcovindas, a deep-well driller of Calamansian Street, Maligaya Parkland Subdivision, was also ordered to pay the victim’s family P50,000 for damages.

In a six-page decision, Judge Silvestre Bello found sufficient grounds to convict the accused of second-degree murder for stabbing dead Simeon Madamba, 39, a resident of 13 Magnolia St., Capitol Park Homes, Novaliches.

Court records showed that the incident took place on May 10, 1999 at about 8 a.m. right in front of a hardware store in Calamansian Street. According to prosecution witness Aldriano Parinas, the victim had bought something from the store when Alcovindas appeared out of nowhere. Without warning, the accused stabbed Madamba in the back with a fan knife.

Despite being wounded, the victim tried to run away but later collapsed on the ground. Alcovindas then stabbed him several more times in the body before fleeing the scene.

Madamba was rushed to the San Lorenzo Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City, but was pronounced dead on arrival by attending physicians.

In his defense, Alcovindas, who was arrested two months after the crime, admitted he stabbed the victim, but invoked self-defense. He said Madamba, whom he had an argument with a few days before the incident, attacked him with a bladed weapon.

The court however, junked Alcovinda’s story because the defense failed to establish "essential proof and elements of self-defense."

Bello instead gave credence to the lone witness, whose testimony "is sufficient to support a conviction so long as it is clear and straightforward, as it is in this case." – Matthew Estabillo