(1) Ano man ang pinagkaiba ning murder sa homicide? (2) Ano man ang pinagkaiba ning robbery sa theft? Perhaps the most frequently asked criminal questions of laymen. Thus, in this week’s edition, we will distinguish the crime of murder from homicide and the crime of robbery from theft.
Murder vs Homicide
To begin with, Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) defines the crime of homicide, to wit: Art. 249. Homicide. – Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article 246, shall kill another, without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated in the next preceding article (Art. 248. Murder), shall be deemed guilty of homicide and be punished by reclusion temporal.
Murder, on other hand, is defined under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), to wit: “Art. 248. Murder. – Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article 246, shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua, to death if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: (1) With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense, or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity; (2) In consideration of a price, reward, or promise; (3) By means of inundation, fire poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin; (4) On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity; (5) With evident premeditation; (6) With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.
Clearly, aside from the imposable penalty, the sole difference between homicide and murder is the presence of the aggravating circumstances enumerated under Art. 248, items 1-6. Thus, if the killing of a person was done in the presence of any of the said circumstances, the crime committed is murder; while if the killing was made without any of the said circumstances, the crime committed is only homicide.
Worthy to state that under the RPC, the killing of a child less than three days of age is called Infanticide defined and penalized under Article 255 therein. The act of killing one’s father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any ascendants, or descendants, or one’s spouse is called Parricide defined and penalized under Article. 246 of the RPC.
Theft vs Robbery
Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code states that the crime theft is committed by any person, who with intent to gain, but without violence against, or intimidation of persons, nor force upon things, shall take the personal property of another without the latter’s consent. Robbery, on the other hand, is committed if the taking of personal property of another is (1) with violence against, or intimidation of, persons; and (2) with force upon things.
Intimidation, under the first type of robbery, is defined in Black’s Law Dictionary as “unlawful coercion; extortion; duress; putting in fear.” To take, or attempt to take, by intimidation means “wilfully to take, or attempt to take, by putting in fear of bodily harm.” Material violence is not indispensable for there to be intimidation, intense fear produced in the mind of the victim which restricts or hinders the exercise of the will is sufficient. The most common of this kind of robbery is “hold-up”
Robbery with force upon things has two kinds: (1) Robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to religious worship. (Art. 299); and (2) Robbery in an uninhabited place or in a private building. (Art. 302) Both types of robbery with force upon things connote that the offender should enter the building where the object to be stolen is located.
Art. 299. Robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to worship. Any armed person who shall commit robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to religious worship, xxx if – (a) The malefactors shall enter the house or building in which the robbery is committed, by any of the following means: (1) By breaking any wall, roof, or floor or breaking any door or window; (2) By using false keys, picklocks, or similar tools; (3) By using any fictitious name or pretending the exercise of public authority. Or if – (b) The robbery be committed by: (1) Breaking of doors, wardrobes, chests, or any other kind of locked or sealed furniture or receptacle; (2) By taking such furniture or objects away to be broken or forced open outside the place of the robbery.
Art. 302. Robbery in an uninhabited place or in a private building. – Any robbery committed in an uninhabited place or in a building other than those mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 299, if any of the following circumstances is present: (1) If the entrance has been effected through any opening not intended for entrance or egress; (2) If any wall, roof, floor, or outside door or window has been broken; (3) If the entrance has been effected through the use of false keys, picklocks, or other similar tools; (4) If any door, wardrobe, chest, or any sealed or closed furniture or receptacle has been broken; (5) If any closed or sealed receptacle, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, has been removed, even if the same be broken open elsewhere.