After an unlawful entry, A14(18) Revised Penal Code

1. Concept

Unlawful entry, as an aggravating circumstance under the Revised Penal Code – refers to the circumstance when the offender unlawfully enters a premises or  a place and then commits the crime.

a. Legal basis

Article 14. Aggravating circumstances. - The following are aggravating circumstances:

18. That the crime be committed after an unlawful entry.

(Revised Penal Code)

2. After an unlawful entry

For the aggravating circumstance of after an unlawful entry, the offender unlawful enters a premises or place and then commits the crime.

a. Unlawful entry, definition

There is an unlawful entry when an entrance is effected by a way not intended for the purpose. (REVISED PENAL CODE, Article 14[18])

People v. Evangelio, G.R. No. 181902, August 31, 2011, Per Peralta, J.:

• [In this case, the aggravating circumstance of unlawful entry was not appreciated.] [E]vidence showed that all the accused freely entered the [victims'] residence through the open kitchen door, which is clearly intended for ingress and or egress.

b. Precedes the crime

People v. Galapia, En Banc, G.R. No. L-39303-05, August 1, 1978, Per Concepcion Jr., J.:

• [T]he accused [E.] Galapia… and [L.] Agudelo were married… After their marriage, the spouses lived with [the wife’s mother]. Living with his mother-in-law became extremely difficult so that sometime [later] the husband left the house to live with his own parents, about a kilometer away. His wife and son, how...