Jail inmate gets jail term for homicide

The Pasig City Regional Trial Court slapped a 14-year jail term against an inmate in San Juan after he mauled to death a businessman who was a newcomer to the detention cell in 1998.

Judge Jesus Bersamira found Joseph Jerwin Salazar, of Branch 166, guilty of homicide. He also ordered Salazar to indemnify the family of victim Romeo Macaspac Sr., of Libertad, Pasay City with P50,000.

Records showed that on April 7, 1998, Macaspac was brought the to San Juan Police detention cell on charges of estafa.

Salazar, being the jail "assistant mayor," had tried to assist in taking Macaspac’s finger prints but the latter berated him.

After the process, Salazar dragged Macaspac inside the cell and started beating him. Jail officers managed to break up the commotion and brought the businessman to the police station clinic.

Macaspac was hauled off to his cell after he was given treatment. Four days later, he was brought to the San Juan Medical Center at the request of his relatives who had apparently learned of the mauling.

Doctors diagnosed the businessman to have abrasions, contusions, and hematoma in different parts of his body. He also had punctures on the chest and hemorrhage at the back portion of his brain.

Salazar had denied the allegation, claiming that he was attending to his visiting wife when Macaspac was supposedly mauled. – Sheila Crisostomo