(Fwd) [PHNO-sb] JOKO DIAZ GUILTY, SENTENCED FOR ATTEMPTED HOMI
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
(http://www.newsflash.org/).
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JOKO DIAZ GUILTY OF ATTEMPTED HOMICIDE
Pasig City, July 29, 1998 - Young action star Joko Diaz was found guilty of
attempted homicide yesterday and sentenced to a maximum of four months in
jail for hitting a sultan's son with a baseball bat over a minor argument.
Only the fact that he was a minor when the incident happened in 1994 saved
Joko from the usual 6-year term for the offense.
Joko was with his father, actor Paquito Diaz, when judgment was read.
Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Rodolfo Bonifacio found Diaz guilty of
attempted homicide but acquitted his companion Richard Chua, son of actress
Isabel Diaz. The court said Joko, then 15 years old, hit Macapanton Jihad
Abbas III in the face with a baseball bat during an argument at the Ortigas
Center around midnight of January 8, 1994. Joko was then 15 years old.
The court dismissed Diaz's defense that it was Abbas who stepped out of a
van holding a bat and attacked the young actor. The judge said "the claim
of self-defense by the accused has not been established...on the contrary,
the evidence on record clearly points to the accused as the aggressor and
responsible for the injury sustained by the complainant."
Joko was also ordered to pay Abbas P171,902 in damages, but was allowed to
stay out of jail, on bail, pending appeal of the case. There's been no
reaction from Joko's girlfriend, teenage actress Angelu de Leon, who is
pregnant with their first child.
The Pasig Regional Trial Court had earlier this year convicted actors Rommel
Padilla for illegal possession of firearms, and Charlie Davao for forgery.