RULING that he was not an innocent bystander, the Supreme Court has sentenced to 40 years imprisonment the former employer of a housemaid as it found him guilty as a main accused in the 2017 serious illegal detention case involving Bonita Baraan.
The SC Second Division, in its February 10, 2021 but which was made available to the public only yesterday, modified the decisions of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals, which both found Reynold Marzan guilty only as an accomplice of his wife, Anna Liza, and sentenced him to serve from eight to 14 years in prison.
The Marzan couple were charged in 2012 for detaining Baraan in their house in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City for two years and 11 months where she was maltreated and abused.
Baraan’s right eye had gone blind as a result of the abuses inflicted on her.
The QC trial court found them the couple guilty, with Anna Liza as the principal or main accused and her husband as an accomplice. Anna Liza was meted the penalty of reclusion perpetua, or 40 years imprisonment.
The SC said Marzan was “not an innocent bystander” and that he conspired with his wife to commit the crime of serious illegal detention.
“Records show (that) whenever Anna Liza would lock up Bonita inside any of the rooms, he would also lock the main door obviously to assure Bonita could not escape. Reynold’s action served to double lock up Bonita inside appellant’s residence against her will,” the SC said.
