Daily Serving of Legal Matters

As reported in ABS-CBN news webpage on November 6, 2014, an 11-year old girl was shot and killed by her mother's live-in partner in Asingan, Pangasinan. Is this an example of a parricide crime? According to Article 246 of the Revised Penal Code, a parricide is committed by any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death. In the news reported by ABS-CBN, who was killed by the alleged actor was the child of his live-in partner.  Said child was not the alleged killer's child. Hence, no parricide was committed. If not parricide, what crime did the allegd killer has committed? Generally, the crime committed allegedly was homicide.  However it may be qualified into murder considering the disparity of strength, that may be explained in the age and gender differences, between the alleged killer and the victim. Note: ...

This photo was taken from bing images. As I scrolled the page of ABS-CBNnews.com, it was one of the news that caught my attention.  I have pasted herein the whole information as posted in the said webpage. MANILA - A newborn baby was found dead on a vacant lot in Barangay 86 in Caloocan City Tuesday. The baby's umbilical cord was still attached to her body, and her placenta was also found in the area. Residents said they still heard the baby cry early in the morning while it was raining. Barangay officials immediately went to a nearby house, where they found a bleeding woman, who denied that the baby was her daughter. The woman, however, eventually went to the barangay hall and admitted that she left her daughter outside to die. She added that she lied because she was scared. The suspect was then brought to a hospital for treatment. Authorities said the woman may be charged with parricide. -- report from Doland Castro, ABS-CBN News Legall...

This is a page created by netizens in seeking justice for the slain daughter.  Image was taken from the page of ABS-CBNnews.com. This is the news that shattered the whole nation this week.  A father slashed the throat of his very own daughter and then he even posted the picture of his dead daughter to his Facebook account.  Accordingly, he (the father) had an earlier altercation with his wife over the internet that led to the brutal death of their child.  The wife is working abroad.  You may read the whole story at ABS-CBNnews.com. In this situation, the crime that the father is charged of is PARRICIDE.  It is parricide because of the relationship of the offender to the victim. According to the Revised Penal Code: Article 246:  Parricide - Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punis...

As what being broadcasted in the news recently, a husband was suspected of killing his own wife and their son in Maragondon, Cavite.  He was caught on closed-circuit television abandoning a Ford Fiesta car near his wife's relative's house along Timothy Street in Multinational Village, Parañaque City. The bodies of the victims were then discovered inside the car's trunk. When the suspect husband was arrested, he claimed of self-defense.

I remember someone said that "killing of the child before birth is abortion and killing of the child after birth is murder". We are already aware of the fact that is is abortion if the child is killed before he/she is being born.  But what about killing of the child after birth, would this be called a murder? It is not always the case.