Repeat offender gets maximum one-year sentence for assault

Repeat offender Ian Francis M. Dela Cruz has been slapped with a full maximum sentence of one year in prison without the possibility of parole for pushing a man inside a restaurant, causing its glass window to shatter.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho ordered the 30-year-old Dela Cruz to serve the one-year prison term without weekend release or any other similar program, for assault and battery. Dela Cruz was given credit for time served.

Camacho said the defendant, a repeat offender, has cases dating back to 2002 for theft, 2003 for theft, 2004 for assault and battery, two cases in 2005 for theft, and burglary in 2011.
Court records showed that Dela Cruz was one of then three male teenagers who were charged and convicted in the 1998 killing of a 13-year-old boy in Dandan.

In this latest case, the Office of the Attorney General charged him with aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, assault, and disturbing the peace.
Dela Cruz pleaded guilty to assault and battery as part of a plea deal. The remaining charges were dropped. He was represented by assistant public defender Eden Schwartz.

The case arose from an incident on May 5, 2013, when Dela Cruz pushed Jacky Kadiashat into a glass wall, causing the latter to fall through the glass and sustain injuries. Police said that, according to a doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center, the victim sustained a seven-centimeter-long laceration that required 10 stitches.

Police detective Therese S. Kintoki stated in her report that two police officers responded to a disturbance at the Fresh Sashimi House Restaurant located along Brigida St. in Chalan Kanoa on May 5, 2013.

Upon arriving at the scene, the officers found the victim with a laceration on his right inner thigh. Medics were called and he was brought to CHC.

The officers later found Dela Cruz from one of the MGM Garment doors and arrested him. The officers detected a strong odor of alcohol in the defendant’s breath.

The victim told police that he was at the Fresh Sashimi House Restaurant when Dela Cruz and his girlfriend arrived.

The victim said at the time he was with the mother of Dela Cruz’s girlfriend.

The victim told police that while he was standing on the eastern part of the building, waiting for the owner of the restaurant to give him some fresh fish, Dela Cruz walked up to him and pushed him hard.

The victim fell back, breaking the glass window. When the victim asked Dela Cruz why he pushed him, the defendant threatened him with a knife and a rock he was holding.