The Supreme Court has upheld a 15-year sentence for a Filipino migrant worker convicted of murdering another Filipino worker and endangering the lives of others in Changhua County in 2023.
The ruling, issued on Feb. 11, finalized the lower courts’ sentences after finding no legal errors in their judgements.
According to the original verdict, the Changhua District Court found Philippine national Dizon Benjie San Agustin guilty of homicide and endangering the lives of others.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
The homicide grew as a marital dispute, according to court documents.
During a trip to the Philippines from December 2022 to January 2023, Agustin discovered that the victim, employed in Taiwan with Agustin, had told Agustin’s estranged wife that Agustin had a girlfriend in Taiwan, the initial verdict said.
After attempts at reconciliation failed and he had returned to Taiwan, Agustin purchased gasoline, a blowtorch and a sickle between Nov. 18 and Nov. 22, 2023, and hid the items inside a workers’ dormitory.
Just after midnight on Nov. 23, 2023, Agustin poured gasoline on the victim’s dorm room, occupied by the victim and roommate, ignited it and blocked the door to prevent anyone from escaping.
The victim and his roommate eventually opened the door, but Agustin attacked his victim with the sickle, court documents said.
Although both occupants escaped the room, Agustin’s primary target sustained lacerations, fractures to his head and chest, and burns to his face and torso.
He eventually died from his injuries on Dec. 16, 2023. The roommate survived the ordeal with burns to his limbs and back.
The Changhua verdict said that after setting fire to the room, Agustin later took flammable liquid to a second room inside the dormitory and sprayed it onto the face of another migrant worker, who was treated for shock.
Although firefighters extinguished the fire and saved the dorm, the verdict said that the location sustained substantial damage to the walls and AC units.
Changhua District Court sentenced Agustin to 15 years in prison for homicide on Aug. 7 last year and gave him an additional six months for endangerment, which could be commuted to a fine.
Agustin appealed his case, but the Taichung branch of the High Court upheld the verdict.
With the Supreme Court upholding the original ruling on Feb. 11, Agustin’s sentencing is deemed final.
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