2 men get life terms for killing student

A tricycle driver and his cohort face spending the rest of their lives in prison after they were found guilty of shooting and killing a student who inadvertently blocked their path on Christmas Eve in Quezon City in 2002.

Angelito Gabriel and Henrick Monteza, the alleged gunman, were handed down life sentences for the murder of Roderick Kam who was just walking home after attending a party with a friend.

Judge Bayani Vargas of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 219 also ordered the two men to pay the family of victim P175,000 in damages.

Gabriel, a newspaper boy who moonlighted as a tricycle driver, was driving for Monteza when the shooting took place.

“Since the accused Monteza used a gun to shoot the unarmed victim, Roderick Kam, in the back, the killing of the latter was qualified by taking advantage of superior strength,” the judge said in his decision.

The court convicted the two men based on the testimony of Kam’s companion, a fellow student.

He told the court that he and Kam were walking home from a party on Caragay Street in San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City, at around 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2002, when they encountered the two men.

He added that Gabriel’s companion, Milan Santiago, cursed them for blocking the road. A scuffle broke out between the two groups and Gabriel and Santiago left.

They later returned, this time with Monteza who shot the victim in the back.