People vs Domasian, 219 SCRA 245

G.R. No. 95322 March 1, 1993

FACTS:
1. In the morning of March 11, 1982, Enrico Paulo Agra, a minor, who was 8
years old at that time, was walking with a classmate along Roque Street in the
Poblacion of Lopez, Quezon, and was approached by a certain Pablito Domasian,
who requested his assistance in getting his fathers signature on a medical
certificate. Enrico agreed to help and rode with Domasian in a tricycle to
Calantipyan, where he waited outside while the latter went into a building to get the
certificate. Enrico became apprehensive and started to cry when, instead of taking
him to the hospital, Domasian flagged a minibus and forced him inside, holding him
firmly all the while. He told him to stop crying or he would not be returned to his
father. When they arrived at Gumaca, they took another tricycle and went to the
municipal building from which they walked to the market. Here, Domasian talked to
a jeepney driver and handed him an envelope addressed to Dr. Enrique Agra,
Enricos father. The two boarded a tricycle headed for San Juan Vicente, with
Domasian still holding Enrico, who continued crying. This aroused the suspicion of
the driver, Alexander Grate. When the two alighted from the tricycle, Alexander
immediately reported the matter to two barangay tanods and went after them and
saw the man dragging the boy. Domasian managed to escape, leaving Enrico
behind.
2. At about 1:45 pm of the same day, after Enricos return, Agra received an
envelope containing a ransom note. The note demanded P1 million for the release
of Enrico and warned that otherwise the boy would be killed. Agra thought the
handwriting in the note was familiar and after complaining it with some records in
the hospital, he gave the note to the police, which referred it to the NBI for
examination. The test showed that it had been written by Dr. Samson Tan. Enrico
was shown a folder of pictures in the police station so he could identify the man who
had detained him, and he pointed to the picture of Pablito Domasian.
3. Tan and Domasian were charged with the crime in violation of Article 267
of Revised Penal Code for kidnapping with serious illegal detention in the Regional
Trial Court of Quezon.
4. Domasian claimed that at the time of the incident he was watching a
mahjong game in a friends house and later went to an optical clinic with his wife for
the refraction of his eyeglasses. Tan said he was in Manila. Tan also claimed that
lower court erred in not finding that the sending of the ransom note was an
impossible crime which is not punishable by the Revised Penal Code.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the accused is guilty of kidnapping with serious illegal
detention under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code.
HELD:
The appealed decision is AFFIRMED, holding that Dr. Samson Tan and Pablito
Domasian, in conspiracy with each other, committed the crime of kidnapping as
defined and penalized under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code.
Art. 267 of RPC, states that any private individual who shall kidnap or detain
another, or in any manner deprive him of his liberty, shall suffer the penalty of
reclusion perpetua to death. Under paragraph 4, the said law shall apply if the

person kidnapped or detained shall be a minor, female or a public officer. In the

case at bar, it is noted although Enrico was not confined in an enclosure, he was
deprived of his liberty when Domasian restrained him from going home and Enrico
was a minor at that time.
As for the Dr. Samsons contention that the crime was an impossible crime
and that he should be liable for the crime, he conveniently forgets that the first
paragraph of Article 4, is clearly applicable to him, which states, criminal liability
shall be incurred by any person committing a felony (delito) although the wrongful
act be different from that which he intended. Also, even before the ransom note was
received, the crime of kidnapping with serious illegal detention had already been
committed. The act cannot be considered an impossible crime because there was
no inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or the employment of inadequate or
ineffective means. The delivery of the ransom note after the rescue of the victim did
not extinguish the offense, which had already been consummated when Domasian
deprived Enrico of his liberty.