People v. Hassan

PEOPLE v. USMAN HASSAN y AYUN The information was practically forced out of Police Corporal Rogelio P.
Carpio, a witness for the People, during his cross-examination.

G.R. No. L-68969 | January 22, 1988 | SARMIENTO, J. | Tamayo
 The version of the sole eyewitness appearing in his statement is
PERSONS RESPONSIBLE AND CONDUCT PUNISHED: Felonies and Crimes: Nature, substantially the same as that embodied in the "Case Report," by Police
Concept, Definition and Elements Corporal Carpio. It is also significant in that it confirms the confrontation
between the accused and Jose Samson in the funeral parlor arranged by the
Summary: Hassan, a poor and illiterate 15-year-old pushcart cargador was police Investigator and prosecution witness, Corporal Carpio.
convicted of murder on the bases of a lone eyewitness and sloppy investigation.  The prosecution’s evidence is weak and unconvincing. While Samson
The SC acquitted him. averred on the witness stand that he saw the assailant stab the deceased
"from behind on his chest" only once, the NBI medico-legal officer Identified
Doctrine: The quality of justice and the majesty of the law shine ever brightest
two stab wounds, one at the front portion of the chest at the level and third
when they are applied with more jealousy to the poor, the marginalized, and the
disadvantaged. . . rib, (sic) and another stab wound located at the left arm posterior aspect."
When the evidence for the prosecution and the evidence for the accused are The same medical expert also concluded from the nature and location of the
weighed, the scales must be tipped in favor of the latter. chest wound, which was the cause of death, that the same was inflicted on
the victim while the alleged accused was in front of him."
 The manner by which Jose Samson, Jr. was made to confront and Identify
Issue: Whether Hassan’s guilt was proved beyond reasonable doubt. – NO. the accused alone at the funeral parlor, without being placed in the police
Facts: line-up, was "pointedly suggsestive, generated confidence where there was
none, activated visual imagination, and, all told, subserted his reliability as
 Hassan was accused of murder for the stabbing to death of Ramon Pichel, eyewitness. . .” Moreover, the confrontation arranged by the police
Jr. The deceased was employed as manager at his father’s sand and gravel investigator between the self-proclaimed eyewitness and the accused did
business, while Hassan was an illiterate 15-year-old pushcart cargador. violence to the right of the latter to counsel in all stages of the investigation.
 The lone eyewitness for the prosecution, Samson, claims that at about 7PM  Similarly, there is nothing in the record to show that the fruit vendor at the
he and the deceased went to buy mangoes at Fruit Paradise. He claims that stall was investigated, or why he was not investigated. Nor is any
he saw a person stab Pichel, who was seated at his red Honda motorcycle explanation given as to why the companion of the accused at the time
which was parked about two or three meters from the fruit stand where he Corporal Carpio arrested him at about 8PM (around 7PM, according to
(Samson) was selecting mangoes; that he saw the assailant stab Ramon accused) of that same evening near the scene of the crime, was not also
"only once" and that after the stabbing, the assailant ran towards the PNB investigated when he could have been a material witness. In addition, the
Building. When asked at the cross-examination if he knew the assailant, knife and its scabbard were not even subjected to any testing at all to
Samson said, "I know him by face but I do not know his name." determine the presence of human blood.
 Samson described the assailant as wearing a white, short-sleeved t-shirt and  Our doubt about the guilt of the accused is further deepened by a
maong pants, but "he did not see if the aggressor was wearing shoes," that resolution, in a separate case, of the Assistant City Fiscal which clearly
the assailant stabbed Ramon with a knife but he did not exactly see what reveals that a day after the killing of Pichel, a similar stabbing took place
kind of knife it was, and he did not see how long the knife was. near the place of the earlier incident, with the suspect being a certain
Benhar Isa, 'a notorious and a deadly police character" in Zamboanga City,
Ratio:
with a long record of arrests. In that resolution, Fiscal Murillo said the same
 What comes as a surprise is that Samson’s statement, which was taken 2 Benhar Isa was tagged as 'also a suspect in the stabbing of Ramon Pichel, Jr.
days after the stabbing, and sworn to 2 days after it was taken (or 4 days to death and the stabbing of Pastor Henry Villagracia at the Fruit Paradise,
after the killing)was never presented or mentioned by the prosecution at all. this City."
o Indeed, Usman Hassan is too poor to wage a legal fight to prove his
innocence. And he is so marginalized as to claim and deserve an
honest-to-goodness, thorough, and fair police investigation with all
angles and leads pursued to their logical, if not scientific,
conclusions. Sadly circumstanced as he is, the authority of the State
was too awesome for him to counteract.
 And now as a penultimate observation, we could not help but note the total
absence of motive ascribed to Usman for stabbing Ramon, a complete
stranger to him.
 Finally, considering that the age of the accused could exempt him from
punishment or cause the suspension of his sentence under Articles 12 and
80 of the RPC, if found guilty, more meticulousness and care should have
been demanded of medical or scientific sources, and less reliance on the
observation of the judge as had happened in this case. The preliminary
findings of the dentist that the accused could be anywhere between 14 to
21 years, despite the difficulty of arriving at an accurate determination due
to Hassan's mouth condition, would have placed the trial judge on notice
that there is the probability that the accused might be exempted from
criminal liability due to his young age.
Dispositive: WHEREFORE, the decision is hereby REVERSED, and the accused Usman
Hassan y Ayun is ACQUITTED of the crime charged. His release from confinement is
hereby Ordered, unless he is held for another legal cause. With costs de oficio.

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PEOPLE v. USMAN HASSAN y AYUN The information was practically forced out of Police Corporal Rogelio P.

Carpio, a witness for the People, during his cross-examination.

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