Man gets 15 years, P2.4-M fine for killing teen over cigarette

Manila, Philippines - A Caloocan City court sentenced a man to 15 years’ imprisonment Thursday and ordered him to pay a total of P2.4 million to the family of the teenager he killed three years ago over a cigarette.

Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 128 Judge Eleanor Kwong found Leorico Capati guilty of homicide for the 2008 killing of 18-year-old Raymark Goque.

Capati was sentenced in absentia after he jumped bail and went into hiding.

Court records show that on Feb. 3, 2008, at around 3 a.m., Capati – a resident of Barangay 16 in Caloocan City – became angry when Goque, a supermarket salesclerk, gave him the one he was puffing when Capati asked for a cigarette.

Capati, who was drunk, traded blows with Goque. The teenager overpowered him, until he drew a knife and stabbed Goque eight times. One of the knife thrusts pierced Capati’s heart, another his lung.

In a seven-page decision, Kwong said Capati killed Goque “without any justifying circumstance” and during the trial of the case Capati jumped bail. “His flight is a strong indication of his guilt,” Kwong said.

Since Goque was the sole breadwinner in the family and was only 18 when he was killed, Kwong directed Capati to pay his “heirs” P2,333,987.70 in lost earnings plus P50,000 in civil indemnity, another P50,000 in moral damages and P23,157 in actual damages.

Caloocan City assistant prosecutor Darwin Canete, who handled the case, said Capati has a pending case of two counts of frustrated homicide before the Caloocan RTC Branch 126.