IN KABANKALAN
Man gets 12 years
for stabbing cousin

A resident of Kabankalan City , Negros Occidental, was sentenced to 12 years in jail by Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Judge Henry Arles yesterday for killing his cousin five years ago.

Reynaldo Geda, 34, was convicted of homicide and meted a minimum of eight years to a maximum of 12 years imprisonment for stabbing to death his cousin, Neptali Diagmel, 32, in Brgy. Binicuil, Kabankalan City , on September 20, 2002 , court records showed.

Arles ordered Geda's immediate transfer to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinupa City and for the convict to pay P50,000 to the victim's heirs as indemnity.

The defense told the court that Geda was insane when he killed Diagmil but Arles said that “in order that insanity may be taken as an exempting circumstance, there must be complete deprivation of intelligence in the commission of the act or that the accused acted without the least discernment.

Although the defense presented the medical certificate given by Dr. Gregorio Gequillana Jr., who interviewed Geda in jail, Arles said that the court could not discern anything from it proving that the mental faculties of the accused were totally impaired at that time.

“Without the least intention of casting doubt on the knowledge and integrity of the said expert witness, the results of the examinations conducted… appear to be based on incomplete or insufficient facts,” Arles said.

Arles added that there has been no independent interview of any of Geda's family members, relatives, or persons who could provide information on his state of mind before or during the commission of the offense.

“If he really was insane at the time of the killing, certainly such a condition could not have escaped the notice of other persons, friends, and strangers alike, including the immediate members of his family,” the judge said.

Citing previous court decisions, Arles said that “without positive proof that the defendant had lost his reason or was demented a few moments prior to or during the perpetration of the crime, it will be presumed hat he was in a normal condition.”*PP

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