Conviction in driver’s killing affirmed

The Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction of a man from Cebu City who stabbed to death a trisikad driver in 2006.

The SC’s Second Division affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeals, which upheld the trial court’s conviction of Roger Racal, alias Rambo, of murder for the death of one Jose “Joe” Francisco last April 19, 2016.

“There is no indication that the trial court overlooked, misunderstood or misapplied the surrounding facts and circumstances of the case,” read the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta.

The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s charged Racal with murder as under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code.

Francisco, along with other trisikad drivers, was waiting for passenger along Lopez Street at Sitio Alseca, Cebu City.

Racal, who stood near Francisco, shouted and told other drivers not trust the victim for being a traitor.

When Francisco asked Racal why he called him a traitor, the convict stabbed him several times with a knife, hitting him in the chest and other parts of his body.

Fellow drivers and village officials rushed Francisco to the hospital, but he did not make it there alive.

Racal, on his part, admitted he stabbed Francisco. But he said he did it out of “insanity.”