590 Phil. 372
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
That on or about the 26th day of October, 1997, in the Municipality of Agoo, Province of La Union, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, with intent to kill and being then armed with a knife, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, attack, assault, and stab one JESUS LOPEZ Y VILLANUEVA, thereby inflicting upon him injuries which directly caused his death thereafter, to the damage and prejudice of the heirs of the said Jesus Lopez y Villanueva.[1]From the testimonies of its witnesses, the prosecution established the following version:[2]
Findings: 4 cm. diagonal wound, deep, located at (R) anterior chest wall trajecting medially and superiorly transecting partially the (R) carotid artery and penetrating the (R) side of trachea. No direct communication to the thoracic cavity.Upon the other hand, the defense gave the following version:[5]
x x x x[4]
WHEREFORE, this Court finds accused CARLOS MANANGAN guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of HOMICIDE as principal. No mitigating or aggravating circumstance having been appreciated, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, this Court sentences Carlos Manangan to suffer imprisonment ranging from TWELVE (12) YEARS OF PRISION MAYOR MAXIMUM as minimum to SEVENTEEN (17) YEARS and FOUR (4) MONTHS of RECLUSION TEMPORAL MEDIUM as maximum. He is further ordered to pay the heirs of Jesus Lopez indemnity in the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00).[6]In convicting petitioner, the trial court, noting the location and extent of the wounds reflected in Dr. Milan's autopsy report, credited the following arguments of the prosecution:
[T]he testimony of the prosecution witnesses that the assailant and the victim were fronting each other and the former stabbed the latter with his left hand with a knife coming from below upward, perfectly jibes and conforms with the location of the initially inflicted wound on the body of the victim, which is on the anterior chest, finding the direction of the weapon used towards the upper part of the body, which is the neck, and thus injuring the carotid artery and the right portion of the trachea, which are in the neck. When two protagonists are in this actual relative position[s], and one of them who is x x x left handed x x x stab[s] the person fronting him, the logical upper portion of the victim's body that would be hit by the knife is the right upper chest, because such is the nearest upper part of his body to the knife held by the left hand of the other, as in the case at bar. Indubi[t]ably, the deceased was stabbed on the upper portion of his chest, and the knife going upward, reaching the area of the neck, transecting partially the right carotid artery and the right side of the trachea. This is so because the direction of a stab or thrust executed from below would be upward, thus explains why the carotid artery and the right part of the trachea were reached by the knife. x x x A knife thrust against a person from below, in any stretch of the imagination, cannot go down and affect the lower portion of the body but its tendency is to go up and affect the upper portion of the body if their relative position is that they are facing each other. x x x[7] (Emphasis, italics and underscoring in the original)The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision.[8] Petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration[9] having been denied,[10] he filed the present Petition for Review on Certiorari,[11] faulting the appellate court in:
The petition is bereft of merit.I.
. . . FAIL[ING] TO STATE THE LEGAL AND FACTUAL BASES FOR ITS CONCLUSION THAT THE PETITIONER'S GUILT WAS PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT.
II.
. . . CONVICTING THE PETITIONER DESPITE MEDICAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY.
III.
. . . CONVICTING THE PETITIONER OF THE CRIME OF HOMICIDE WHEN HIS GUILT WAS NOT PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT.[12] (Underscoring supplied)
It is indubitable that the conviction of the accused-appellant was based on the version of the prosecution that the former stabbed the deceased with a knife thrusting from below going upwards. The prosecution argued that the testimony of Dr. Samuel L. Milan, who conducted the autopsy on the cadaver of the victim, supports their version. However, this is misleading since no anatomical sketch showing the point of entry of the wound and tracing the trajectory of the weapon used was ever presented or introduced as evidence during the trial of the instant case. In fact, the testimony of Dr. Milan will show that if we follow the version of the prosecution that the accused-appellant was standing up and the victim was also standing up at the time of the stabbing incident, the possibility of the trajectory of the swing is a straight thrust. x x xTo recall, the autopsy report showed that the victim suffered a
x x x x
Furthermore, the fact that the entry wound is "diagonal" tends to corroborate the version of the defense. If the accused-appellant really stabbed the deceased with both assailant and the deceased in a standing position and both presumably of the same height according to the prosecution's version, in a straight thrust or an upward stabbing motion, the entry wound would be vertical and not diagonal. The diagonal or oblique entry wound is more consistent with a stabbing motion delivered from an oblique angle, like a thrust from Joseph Cargo, whose target (Carlos Manangan) moved and which, instinctively, made the assailant (Joseph Cargo) moved [sic] accordingly x x x.[14] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
"4 cm. diagonal wound, deep, located at (R) anterior chest wall trajecting medially and superiorly transecting partially the (R) carotid artery and penetrating the (R) side of trachea. . . "[15] (Underscoring supplied)Such findings were explained by Dr. Milan at the witness stand, viz:
Given the documentary and testimonial evidence elicited from the doctor, the victim could not have been wounded at the right anterior chest by a stab aimed by Cargo at petitioner who was allegedly lying on the ground under the victim. And a downward stab at the victim's right chest could not have logically hit his trachea and carotid artery, which are at the upper portion of the body - at the neck. As the prosecution noted in its Memorandum with which the trial court concurred:
[Atty. Yaranon] Q: Now, you also mentioned about a carotid artery, is it not that the carotid artery is found on the neck? [Dr. Milan] A: Yes, sir. Q: So why then do you still state about the carotid artery when the wound is on the chest? A: Yes, sir, because the wound is right just below the clavicular area and it was going up along the path and it is about more or less 6 inches in length. The carotid artery was along the way so it is partially transected. Q: Now, did you observe any blood on the abdominal cavity on the victim? A: I think there was no blood on the abdominal cavity because there was negative findings on that area, sir.[16] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
In [defense witness Genalyn's] testimony, her father was under Jesus Lopez, who was riding on him and still hitting him. Aside from the improbability that her father the accused could move away, to explain the possibility that it was Jesus Lopez who was hit on the upper portion of his right chest is highly improbable, considering the statement of the said witness that Joseph Cargo stabbed [her] father, with a thrust or stab coming from above downward. If it were true, after the infliction of the wound on the right chest of the victim, taking into account that Joseph Cargo was at the right side of her father at the time, the direction of the knife would have been straight toward his back, if Jesus Lopez was lying flat on his back after the accused had moved away as testified to, or downward in his body if he was on his toes, but never that the direction of the knife can go upward. x x x [17] (Emphasis in the original.)It bears noting that the trial court credited the respective accounts of the incident by eyewitnesses Refuerzo, Cargo and Parado, who, by the way, also mauled petitioner by his claim, albeit there is no allegation of any resulting injury to petitioner had been made; and that some witnesses who, by the way, positively identified petitioner as the perpetrator. The assessment of the credibility of a witness being a function that is best discharged by the trial judge, his conclusion thereon is accorded much weight and respect, and unless a material or substantial fact has been overlooked or misappreciated which if properly taken into account could alter the outcome of the case,[19] it is not disturbed on appeal, as it was not by the appellate court in the present case.
x x x x
x x x [H]owever and whatever move or change of position that Carlos Manangan could have done, Jesus Lopez could not be stabbed on the right chest in any stretch of imagination, considering that Carlos Manangan was under Jesus Lopez and the knife was aimed at Carlos Manangan. x x x Moreover, assuming it to be so, without however admitting the same as a fact, the wound sustained could not have been inflicted on the right chest of the victim, considering that that he was over or above Carlos Manangan, riding on him, and whatever kind of fall that he fell on the ground due to the change [of] position or move made by the latter, Lopez cannot be hit on his right chest.[18]