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People Vs Rex Nimuan

An eyewitness testified that he saw the defendant hack the victim with a bolo, causing the victim to fall to the ground. The defendant claimed an alibi that he was watching TV at his uncle's house at the time of the crime. The court ruled the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender did not apply to the defendant because he only went with barangay officials to the police station for verification purposes, not to admit guilt or voluntarily surrender, as required by law. The defendant was sentenced to reclusion perpetua.

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201 views1 page

People Vs Rex Nimuan

An eyewitness testified that he saw the defendant hack the victim with a bolo, causing the victim to fall to the ground. The defendant claimed an alibi that he was watching TV at his uncle's house at the time of the crime. The court ruled the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender did not apply to the defendant because he only went with barangay officials to the police station for verification purposes, not to admit guilt or voluntarily surrender, as required by law. The defendant was sentenced to reclusion perpetua.

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kriztin anne elman
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PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES vs REX NIMUAN y CACHO

G.R. No. 182458               March 21, 2011

Facts:

August 23, 2004, the was accused of murder in the Regional Trial Court, Branch 31, Agoo, La
Union. The appellant pleaded not guilty on arraignment. In the trial that followed, an eyewitness
Alfredo Ruiz, the brother of the victim Jun Ruiz and the appellant’s first cousin testified on the details
of the crime. In the afternoon of July 22, 2004, while Alfredo was talking with friends, he saw the
victim, the appellant and a certain Boy Nieva drinking in a neighborhood store in Barangay San
Eugenio, Aringay, La Union. Later that afternoon, as Alfredo was walking home along a path inside a
mango plantation in the barangay, he spotted the appellant and the victim about 30 meters ahead of
him, walking in the same trail leading to their respective houses. Unaware of his presence, the
appellant who was walking a meter behind the victim suddenly hacked the latter with a bolo. Alfredo
ran away to seek help when he saw the victim fall to the ground after the attack.

The appellant, interposing alibi, claimed that between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. of July 22, 2004, he was
watching television at the house of his uncle, Manuel Dulay, at San Benito Sur when a certain
Barangay Captain Cariño, along with a barangay kagawad, arrived and informed him that he was a
suspect in the death of the victim. The appellant and his mother went with the barangay officials to
the police station of Aringay, La Union, where he was detained.

Issue:

Whether or not the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender is present.

Ruling:

No. The Mitigating Circumstance of voluntary surrender cannot be appreciated in this case. Article
13 paragraph 7 states that the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority
or his agents and that such person confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation for
the prosecution. In the case at bar, Nimuan cannot be appreciated under the mitigating circumstance
of voluntary surrender because the appellant went with the barangay officials not to admit the
alleged crime or to voluntarily surrender to the authorities, but only for verification purposes.
Wherefore, appellant was correctly sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua since the
mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender cannot be appreciated in his favor; the records
indicate that the appellant did not intend to assume responsibility for the death of the victim when he
and his mother went with the barangay officials to the police station.

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