People vs.

Belonio 429 scra 579 Facts: Rammy Tamayo who bought a cigarette from a store a few meters from their house was bumped by the accused Randy Belonio in trying to force his way in the small opening of the store, Jennifer Ramy s first cousin saw that Randy gave Ramy a long and hard look. The accused left but after few minutes he returned and stabbed Ramy with a dagger in his right chest which causes his death, then fled but was arrested from one of the houses near the barangay hall. The accused raise the defense of insanity for his mental sickness that he was not in his right mind when the killing took place. Dr. Gauzon, certifies that he was suffering from schizophrenia. The accused was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death Issue: Whether or not the accused defense of insanity exempt him from his criminal offense of murder Ruling: The Supreme Court responds to the defense of the accused in negative, the defense utterly failed in proving that the accused was insane. They found the evidence to be insufficient; there must be a complete deprivation of intelligence in committing the act, to establish his claim that he was insane. And the crime of murder was affirmed and sentenced him with death penalty Belonio, after giving the victim a hard and resentful look, sat near the latter and conversed with him. Afterwards he stabbed Tamayo then escaped and went into hiding; these acts tend to establish that the accused was well aware of what he had just committed. Philippine courts have established a more stringent criterion for acceptance of insanity as an exempting circumstance. A mere abnormality of mental faculties is not enough; there must be a complete deprivation of intelligence in committing the act. The appellants past does not discredit the facts that he did not act with complete absence of power to discern, he was not deprived of reason and he was not totally deprived of his will