SELF-DEFENSE
REQUISITES
In order to successfully claim that he acted in defense of a relative, the accused must prove the concurrence of the following requisites: (1) unlawful aggression on the part of the person killed or injured; (2) reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel the unlawful aggression; and (3) the person defending the relative had no part in provoking the assailant, should any provocation been given by the relative attacked. Unlawful aggression is a primary and indispensable requisite without which defense of relative, whether complete or otherwise, cannot be validly invoked.
It is well-settled in this jurisdiction that once an accused has admitted that he inflicted the fatal injuries on the deceased, it is incumbent upon him in order to avoid criminal liability, to prove the justifying circumstance claimed by him with clear, satisfactory and convincing evidence. He cannot rely on the weakness of the prosecution but on the strength of his own evidence, “for even if the evidence of the prosecution were weak it could not be disbelieved after the accused himself had admitted the killing.” Thus, petitioner must establish with clear and convincing evidence that the killing was justified, and that he incurred no criminal liability therefor.
(Sabang vs. People, G.R. No. 168818, March 9, 2007)
