Conviction OK even if NO weapon presented in court

Time and again, the Supreme Court has deferred to the trial court's factual findings and evaluation of the credibility of witnesses, especially when affirmed by the CA, in the absence of any clear showing that the trial court overlooked or misconstrued cogent facts and circumstances that would justify altering or revising such findings and evaluation.CRIMINAL LAW: Establishment of guilt beyond reasonable doubt is not diminished by the non-identification and non-presentation of the weapon actually used in the killing.

REMEDIAL LAW: Test of credibility of witnesses and testimonies is based on knowledge, observation and experience. Beyond these are the miraculous, outside judicial jurisdiction.

Verily, the issue of credibility, when it is decisive of the guilt or innocence of the accused, is determined by the conformity of the conflicting claims and recollections of the witnesses to common experience and to the observation of mankind as probable under the circumstances. It has been appropriately emphasized that "[w]e have no test of the truth of human testimony, except its conformity to our knowledge, observation, and experience. Whatever is repugnant to these belongs to the miraculous and is outside of judicial cognizance." (G.R. No. 161308; January 15, 2014)