A jeepney driver was sentenced yesterday to 14 years, eight months and one day imprisonment after he was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of homicide for shooting his passenger.

Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 49 Judge Manuel Cardinal Jr. sentenced Jeremias Dayapan Dequit to imprisonment of six years and one day as minimum to 14 years, eight months and one day as maximum.

He was also ordered to pay the heirs of his victim, Elmor Embang, 18, of Barangay Tabucol, Murcia, Negros Occidental, P50,000 as civil indemnity and P25,000 as temperate damages.

The court was told that Dequit shot Embang, who was sitting in the front seat of his jeepney, two times with a .38 caliber homemade revolver at Doña Juliana Heights in Bacolod City on Nov. 10, 2002.

Dequit voluntarily surrendered to the Murcia Police Station the same day.

He told the court that, while his vehicle was approaching the church at Doña Juliana Heights, Embang, who was seated beside him, announced a holdup and poked a gun at his side. Dequit said he stopped the vehicle, pushed the arm of Embang up and grappled for possession of the gun that went off.

But the court said that, based on the testimony of Victor Andaya, it was clearly established that Dequit shot Embang twice.

“Assuming that the victim was the unlawful aggressor before the first shot, the unlawful aggression ceased when the accused was able to disarm the victim of his firearm. Thus, shooting the victim again after the later was disarmed will negate the element of the means employed (that) is no longer reasonable to prevent or repel the unlawful aggression,” the judge said.

The claim that the victim, an 18-year-old boy, allegedly declared a hold-up in broad daylight in a populated area near a church is unworthy of belief, the judge added.

The court also noted that the accused did not inform at the earliest opportunity the Murcia police where he surrendered and the Bacolod police, who investigated him later, that he was held up by the victim and that he acted in self defense.

The judge said that, for failure of the accused to prove self-defense, it was clearly established that he was guilty of the crime of homicide.

Dequit said he will file an appeal to the court’s ruling.*CPG

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