Month-old baby in China dies after grandfather fed him alcohol to ‘save face’.

The baby was

gone within the hour.

Sin Chew Daily reported that as the baby’s grandfather was carrying around at the banquet, a
relative jokingly said, “Grandpa can’t drink if the baby doesn’t drink.” The grandfather, who was
reportedly slightly inebriated, then fell for the taunt.

Wanting to “save face”, he fed the baby a small cup of alcohol.

Was it committed by dolo or culpa?

The act committed by the grandfather was by dolo. The elements of dolo are the
following: a) freedom of action, b) intelligence, and c) intent. The grandfather did the act
voluntarily, he also had the capacity to distinguish that the act would result to harming the baby.
On the third element, intent is defined as ‘a mental state’ and ‘the only way to know what is in
the mind of a person is to look at the external manifestation thereof demonstrated by the overt
acts or means employed’ (Boado, 2018), thus, the intent to kill is presumed when the victim dies
because the act of killing clearly constitutes an unlawful act (People v. Gemoya, GR No. 132633,
04 Oct 2000). The grandfather fed the baby with alcohol because he wanted to “save face” or to
save himself from humiliation in front of his family. The grandfather’s choice of saving himself
from public humiliation by feeding alcohol to the baby so that he could also drink alcohol clearly
shows that he has intent to inflict harm unto the baby which resulted to the baby’s death.