2 men get 20 years for killing policeman

A Cebu City court convicted two men who allegedly robbed and killed a policeman over five years ago.

John Irish Daan and his uncle Ismael Secretaria were meted an imprisonment of reclusion perpetua or 20 to 40 years after they were found guilty of robbery with homicide.

Both of them were also ordered  to pay P50,000 to the heirs of SPO2 Teofanes Castro.

Two of their companions were also convicted but remain unidentified.

In her decision, Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra of Branch 23  gave weight to the positive identification of prosecution witnesses over the denial of Daan and Secretaria.

Labra cited a Supreme Court ruling which states that “alibi is the weakest of all defenses for it easy to contrive and difficult to prove.”

For alibi to prosper, the court said,  the accused should be able to prove they he or she “is somewhere else when the crime was committed and that it would be physically impossible for him to be present at the crime scene at the time of the commission of the crime.”

The victim and a female friend were standing along the South Coastal Road in Talisay City when a group of men suddenly shot the policeman in the face.

His companion, Minerva Villaro, was able to escape.

Villaro said the suspects frisked the victim’s body and took away his valuables.

She identified Daan as the person who shot Daan.