Incredulous

This is another example of a case decided by the trial court on the basis of the credibility of a witness and on the credibility of the testimony itself. This is the case of Carina, a school teacher who later on became an overseas worker.

When Carina and Ferdie got married, she worked as a school teacher in the province where they had their conjugal home while he was employed in a government owned and controlled corporation located in another nearby province. After eight years of marriage and with five children, Carina left her family to work in Singapore. The children stayed in their conjugal home while Ferdie stayed most of the time in the province where his office is located.

Unknown to Carina, Ferdie developed an illicit affair with Linda, a resident of the nearby province where Ferdie worked. The house of Linda’s parents served as their love nest. And Ferdie sired two children during his amorous union with her.

Eventually Carina learned of her husband’s infidelity. She returned to the country after five years in Singapore. But her homecoming did not stop the illicit relationship between Ferdie and Linda. Four years after returning, Carina decided to go to Linda’s residence looking for Ferdie during the Barangay’s feast day when Linda’s family had a lot of guests. She found Ferdie with Linda having a drinking spree with his friends in a kiosk, just a few meters away from Linda’s house. She approached Ferdie, slapped him and asked Ferdie and Linda to join her at Linda’s house.

The three proceeded to the bedroom where the three-year-old son of Ferdie and Linda was sleeping. A heated altercation ensued between Ferdie and Carina forcing Linda to leave the room and sit on a sofa in the receiving room about two meters away where she could see the bickering couple through the bedroom door which was half closed.

At the height of the argument Carina took a fan knife from her shoulder bag and stabbed Ferdie on the chest causing him to embrace her tightly. Linda barged into the room, held Ferdie’s belt at the back and pulled him away from Carina. So Carina was able to pull out the knife from Ferdie’s chest and stabbed him again hitting him on the left thigh. Then Carina fled with the fan knife and with blood stains on her clothes. Ferdie was rushed to the hospital where he died of “hypovolemic shock” due to massive hemorrhage secondary to stab wounds.

When charged with parricide, Carina gave a different version than Linda who reiterated what she witnessed. She said she went to Ferdie’s office that day because her eldest daughter was asking for money to pay her tuition fees. But the security guard told her that Ferdie was at Linda’s house celebrating the Barangay fiesta. So she proceeded and found Ferdie drinking with some friends. Ferdie advised her to go home and not to make any scene. She was thus irked and went inside Linda’s house. Ferdie followed her up to the bedroom where the son of Linda was sleeping. Then in the presence of Linda who followed them, Carina asked them if the child was theirs. Linda denied the accusation but Ferdie boldly admitted that the boy was theirs. The admission provoked a heated altercation so Linda brought the child outside the bedroom. The altercation became violent when Ferdie pushed Carina and she hit the concrete wall and felt dizzy. Seeing a fan knife in a cabinet she held it and warned Ferdie not to go near her but Ferdie did not heed her warning. Carina claimed that the stabbing was accidental and through Ferdie’s own doing who approached and embraced her but as she twisted her body at an angle that allowed the knife to pass just below her armpit, she pierced the victim’s chest and left thigh.

But the trial court gave more credence to the testimony of Linda, the prosecution witness. The court said that her testimony was clear and categorical. It found that Linda was quite honest, sincere, emphatic and straightforward in her testimony as compared to Carina who was not disturbed by the incident and at times seemed amused and would smile although there was nothing funny about the matter. So the lower court found Carina guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of parricide and sentenced her to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua and all the accessory penalties provided by law. It also cancelled the bail bond filed for Carina’s provisional liberty and ordered her to be committed to the Provincial jail. Was the lower court correct?

Yes. According to the Supreme Court (SC), the trial court’s assessment of the credibility of witnesses deserves great respect since it has the opportunity to observe first-hand the expression and demeanor of witnesses at the trial. While Carina and Linda can be considered as biased witnesses for the defense and the prosecution respectively, the court found Linda’s testimony more believable because of her honest and sincere demeanor.

The SC also said that Ferdie’s stabbing was not merely accidental, contrary to Carina’s claim, because the location of his wounds, the position of Carina and Ferdie and their relative strength negate the credence of her story. Her claim about how she twisted her body at angle that allowed the knife to pass just below her armpit and pierce Ferdie’s chest and left thigh is incredulous. Likewise unbelievable is her claim that she was just forced to use the knife to resist Ferdie’s assault because she was the one who provoked the victim who initially dissuaded her from making a scene as she herself admitted. Evidence to be believed must not only come from the mouth of a credible witness but must also be credible in itself (People vs. Arcilla, G.R. 116237, May 15, 1996).

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