"Discrepancies and/or inconsistencies between a witness’ affidavit and testimony in open court do not impair credibility as affidavits are taken ex parte and are often incomplete or inaccurate for lack or absence of searching inquiries by the investigating officer.[27] At any rate, Victor was able to sufficiently explain the discrepancies between his affidavit and court statements. Victor reasoned out that the secretary who typed his affidavit made a mistake; and explained that he signed the affidavit despite the inaccuracies in paragraph 2 because the secretary told him, “kasi ho magugulo ang naimakinilya na.”[28] Accordingly, when Victor informed his lawyer during the first day of the hearing about the inaccuracy, the latter told him to state the truth regardless of what was written in his affidavit.
The general rule – that contradictions and discrepancies between the testimony of a witness and his statements in an affidavit do not necessarily discredit him – is not without exception, as when the omission in the affidavit refers to a very important detail of the incident that one relating the incident as an eyewitness would not be expected to fail to mention, or when the narration in the sworn statement substantially contradicts the testimony in court.[29] In the present case, we see no substantial contradiction in Victor’s affidavit and in his court statements as he declared in both that he saw the petitioner’s car ramp on the island divider and bump Rochelle. As to whether the car ramped on the center island before or after it bumped the victim does not detract from the fundamental fact that Victor saw and identified the petitioner as the driver of the car that ramped on the island divider and hit Rochelle. As earlier discussed, Victor sufficiently explained this inconsistency during the trial.
Victor, who stood only seven meters from the incident, clearly and in a straightforward manner described how the petitioner’s car had bumped the victim. We thus see no reason to overturn the lower courts’ finding regarding Victor’s credibility, more so since the petitioner did not impute any ill motive that could have induced Victor to testify falsely. The fundamental and settled rule is that the trial court's assessment regarding the credibility of witnesses is entitled to the highest degree of respect and will not be disturbed on appeal, especially when the assessment is affirmed by the CA.
The positive identification in this case, coupled with the failure of the defense to impute any ill-motive on the eyewitness, to our mind, works to dispel reasonable doubt on the fact that the petitioner’s car had in fact hit Rochelle. The eyewitness account provides the necessary link between the petitioner’s failure to exercise precaution in operating his vehicle and Rochelle Lanete’s death."
