People v. Morales (G.R. No. L-44096)

 

G.R. No. L-44096 

April 20, 1983

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.

MANUEL MORALES y ALAS, defendant-appellant.

Facts:

Around December 1974, at around midnight. Manuel Morales had carnal knowledge with his daughter, Maria Morales and repeated it several times. Consequently, Maria got pregnant and in March 1976 at around 7:00 PM, with the help of the accused, delivered a baby girl named Mary Morales. The accused took the baby from Maria and buried the baby approximately 100 meters from their house. The accused also built a fire to cover it. The following day, Jesus Aytona, an uncle of Maria Morales went to the office of Orlando Lara and reported that MAria delivered a baby and could not be found. A neighbor of the accused, Delfin Dris, reported that in the night  March 19, 1976, he heard the crying of a baby but that later it stopped. With the help of Dris, Lara found the baby buried a foot deep in a place about 15 meters from the house of Morales. A doctor conducted an autopsy and testified that the baby was alive when she was buried. The accused admitted to both crimes. He said he buried the baby alive to cover the shame of his family because of what he did to his own daughter.

Issue:

Is there an aggravating circumstance of nighttime?

Ruling:

Yes. For nighttime to be applicable it should be sought for or facilitate the commission of the crime. In this case, the accused did not purposely seek nighttime. However, it facilitated the commission of the crime and which the accused took advantage of. It would have been hard for him to bury the baby during daytime. He was able to do so with the cover of night.