This appeal has been brought to reverse a judgment of the Court of  First Instance  of the Province  of Cavite, finding  the appellant, Ariston Luncay, guilty of the offense of robbery with serious physical  injuries and  sentencing him, with his co-accused, Maximo Nepomuceno, to undergo imprisonment  for ten years and one day, presidio mayor, with the accessories prescribed by law, and  requiring them to pay jointly and severally to W. P. Hamil the sum of KL7, and to pay each one-third part of the  costs.

The proof shows beyond peradventure of doubt that on the night of May 12, 1925, the appellant, Ariston Luncay, and Maximo Nepomuceno, in conjunction with a third person whose identity has not been established, assaulted one W. P. Hamil while the latter was riding in a calesa  near the barrio of San Roque, Cavite.  The  party assaulted was  able to discern the faces of two of his assailants from the lights of the calesa, as said two approached him on either side of the vehicle.  These two were the appellant, Ariston Luneay, and  his  co-accused,  Maximo  Nepomuceno.  Approaching near the vehicle, the said two attacked Hamil and gave him several blows on the face and head, by reason of which Hamil lost  consciousness.  He was then robbed  of  P17 which he  had upon his person and his unconscious body was thrown out of the calesa in a swampy place about 200 yards  from the  nearest house.  He was there found the next morning covered with blood  and lying in an unconscious state.   Taken to the Army  and Navy Hospital at Canacao, Hamil  was treated by a physician, and in time he recovered, though the hearing of one ear was destroyed by one of the blows he had received.  Among other injuries Hamil suffered were a fracture of the jaw, a fracture of the skull,  and several lacerated wounds or  bruises.  The evidence shows that in this  assault Ariston  Luncay used iron knucks (Llave inglesa) while Nepomuceno used a stick.

The testimony of Hamil in respect to the  identification of the appellant as one of  his assailants is placed beyond doubt by the testimony of Arsenio Concepcion, a boy about 16 years of age  who was at first joined in the complaint as a confederate  of the other two; but at the request of the fiscal,  the prosecution was dismissed as to  him at the hearing and he was used as a witness for the prosecution. We suppose  that  this fellow was  the unidentified third person who took part in the commission of the offense, but he renounced the honor of having been a willing participant and claims that the third assailant was another person than himself.  We have no hesitation in accepting his testimony as corroborative  of Hamil as to the identity of two of the miscreants.

The offense committed is punishable under paragraph 3 of article 503 in relation with paragraph 2 of article 416 of the Penal Code.  In connection with the offense are to be appreciated the  aggravating circumstances  of nocturnity and the use of iron knucks.  With less certainty might be considered the  additional  aggravating circumstances of abuse of superior strength and that the offense was committed in an uninhabited place.  The lower court appreciated in favor of the appellant the mitigating circumstance indicated in article 11 of the Penal Code, as amended.  This concession was probably not merited, but in the face of, the aggravating circumstances mentioned,  it does not avail to reduce the penalty lower than the minimum of the maximum degree of the penalty prescribed by law.   As suggested by the Attorney-General, the  penalty appropriate to the  offense  is  imprisonment  for  seventeen  years,  four months, and one day, cadena temporal, with the appropriate accessories.

It being understood that the  penalty shall be imprisonment for seventeen years, four months, and one day, cadena temporal, with the accessories,  the  conviction is affirmed, including the  clause of  indemnization,  with costs.  So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Villamor, Ostrand, Johns, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.