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CEBU CITY, Philippines – A man who was convicted for the murder of a trisikad (bicycle with a sidecar) driver and sentenced to 20 to 40 years of imprisonment found himself a free man after the judge reversed his decision on the case.
Regional Trial Court Judge Olegario Sarmiento of Branch 24 reversed his March 16, 2006 decision against Richard Tuñacao.
Tuñacao's acquittal was promulgated on Tuesday.
Sarmiento said the court had overlooked certain significant facts, which led to Tuñacao’s acquittal.
Tuñacao was able to present evidence that proved he was not the one who killed Danilo Abala at the Carbon market in Cebu City on March 27, 2003.
Emilio Apostol, also a trisikad driver, testified that the one who stabbed to death Abala was an unidentified man who asked for money from trisikad drivers in Carbon.
Apostol, who is also detained at the city jail, said the man first asked money from him to buy cigarettes but he avoided him.
He said he immediately drove a few meters away and when he looked back, he saw the man approached and hugged Abala.
After the hug, Abala fell to the ground.
Tuñacao’s employer Leonilo Lumapas also testified that at the time of the incident, Tuñacao was with him in his house fixing wooden benches to be rented for merchants in selling their products at the market.
Tuñacao also provided evidence that on that day he was wounded in the back after he was stabbed by the son of a barangay tanod (village security officer), whose father had poked a gun at his employer.
He was on his way to the Cebu City Medical Center to get his wound treated when he was arrested by tanods for the death of Abala.
Despite positively identifying Tuñacao as the one who stabbed Abala to death, Ildefonso Bayarcal, the prosecution’s witness admitted he did not see any wounds or traces of blood on Abala’s assailant.
