Dumpit files appeal

Adonis Dumpit, the former policeman who was recently convicted for killing a 17-year-old boy, on Wednesday formally sought a reversal of the trial court‘ it’s decision.

While they are happy that the court downgraded the crime from murder to homicide, Dumpit’s lawyers Benjamin Militar and Pedro Leslie Salva insisted that their client is not guilty as he only acted in self defense..

“(Dumpit) is entitled to be acquitted of any crime because, based on his uncontested testimony, he was only trying to defend himself when he first fired at the victim, not knowing that Ronron was already hit. He fired the second shot to shoot an armed robber from escaping,” the defense lawyers said.

Last Aug. 5, Judge Ester Veloso of the Regional Trial Court Branch 6 convicted Dumpit for killing Go. The controversial policeman was meted the penalty of six to nine years and four months of imprisonment and was ordered to indemnify the heirs of the victim in the amount of P50,000.

Dumpit, who was tagged in the killing of three other criminal suspects and the wounding of at least a dozen more since the late 1990s, was originally charged with murder in relation to the death of Go in barangay Tejero on Dec. 14, 2004.

But Veloso downgraded the charges to homicide, saying that the prosecution failed to prove that there was “treachery and use of superior strength” on the part of the accused when he shot the victim.

The judge took into consideration the testimony of a prosecution witness which said that Dumpit had warned the victim not to run before the policeman fired a shot.

Dumpit’s lawyers, however, requested Veloso to revisit some portions of her ruling. They said the shooting incident was a “chance encounter” and the victim and the latter’s companions were ready to kill Dumpit.

“Clearly, the first shot was not deliberately aimed at the victim but to fend off an aggression from him. Go, however, was accidentally hit,” Dumpit’s lawyers said.