SC acquits suspect in 2012 Dutch slay case
The Supreme Court has acquitted a man convicted of killing a Dutch citizen then working for a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Angeles City in 2012, citing “glaring inconsistencies” in the testimony of the prosecution witnesses.
Wilhelm Geertman, a Dutch national who was executive director of Alay Bayan Inc., was shot dead in his office on July 3, 2012.
More than a decade after the incident, the high tribunal’s Third Division granted the petition of the accused, Marvin Nuguid, in G.R. No. 258978 and acquitted him of murder due to the prosecution’s failure to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The court ordered his immediate release unless he is being held for other lawful cause.
Inconsistent
The ruling, promulgated on May 7 and made public only recently, noted that the witnesses were not able to positively identify Nuguid as the perpetrator.
“While the Court does not deny that a heinous crime was committed against Geertman, which caused his untimely demise, the Court does heavily question if Nuguid was the one who inflicted it,” the high tribunal said in the decision written by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao.
It stressed that the witnesses’ inconsistent statements, in addition to the “clear and convincing” evidence presented by the accused, “is enough reason to sway the mind of the Court and acquit Nuguid of the crime charged.”
Nuguid, along with three others, was indicted for murder and robbery over Geertman’s death. He pleaded not guilty when arraigned.
The trial proceeded at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of San Fernando City, Pampanga, but only with respect to his case because one of his coaccused remained at large and the other two John Does were yet to be identified.
Based on the prosecution’s account, Geertman was shot by two assailants who escaped on a motorcycle driven by a third man.
Nuguid insisted on innocence, saying he and his common-law wife were at their junk shop in Pampanga on the day of the murder.
He said he found out about the charges against him only two years after the incident, when the police searched his house and shop in 2014.
In a 2019 decision, the RTC found Nuguid guilty of Geertman’s murder.
It did not give weight to his denial and noted that he and his wife gave different versions of his alibi.
Reversible error
At the Court of Appeals (CA), Nuguid’s conviction was affirmed, prompting him to seek relief from the Supreme Court.
In granting his petition, the Court ruled that both the RTC and CA committed reversible error when they “hastily” convicted Nuguid based on what it deemed as “questionable evidence.”
It noted that six of the prosecution’s 10 witnesses admitted that they did not personally witness the shooting, narrowing the examination of testimonies to only four individuals.
One of them, a volunteer driver who drove the victim to the bank and back to their headquarters in a pickup truck when the incident happened, testified that he did not actually see who shot Geertman.
Weak evidence
On cross-examination, the Court noted that an NGO employee also failed to give a concrete description of the gunman she supposedly saw and eventually admitted that she did not see who fired the gun.
“The foregoing statements taken together make it highly doubtful that the prosecution was able to identify Nuguid as the perpetrator of the crime; thus, the Court has its misgivings if it was indeed Nuguid who shot Geertman,” the high court said.
Since the evidence of the prosecution is weak and “betrays a lack of concreteness,” it said Nuguid’s denial assumes importance.
Aside from the “unconvincing” positive identification of the witnesses, the high court said no other valid and compelling evidence was offered to prove the veracity of the events that happened.
