This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2000-11-20 |
BELLOSILLO, J. |
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| As to the civil indemnity, the trial court correctly awarded P50,000.00 as moral damages for each count of rape. In rape cases, an award for moral damages is made without need for pleading or proof as to the basis thereof.[40] The award of P20,000.00 as exemplary damages is also proper. Exemplary damages may be imposed when the crime was committed with one (1) or more aggravating circumstances.[41] We appreciate accused-appellant's relationship to Adora as her brother-in-law as a generic aggravating circumstance. However, the trial court failed to award civil indemnity to her. Civil indemnity of P50,000.00 is also automatically given to the offended party for the fact of the commission of rape.[42] | |||||
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2000-01-28 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| In addition, the Court has repeatedly ruled that when a victim says she has been raped, she almost always says all that has to be said.[17] So long as the victim's testimony meets the test of credibility, the accused can be convicted on the sole basis thereof.[18] Moreover, the testimony of the victim as to the circumstances of the coital assault must be given weight, for testimonies of young and immature rape victims are almost always credible.[19] The Court finds it most unnatural for a young and immature girl to fabricate a story of her rape by her mother's common law spouse; allow a medical examination of her private parts; and subject herself to a public trial and possible ridicule simply because her older sisters want their mother to separate from her common law spouse. It is most improbable that a rural lass of tender years who is unexposed to the ways of the flesh, would impute so serious a crime to any man, let alone to her mother's common-law spouse whom she treated as her very own father, if the charge were not true.[20] The imputed motive is too shallow and too trite to lend any weight and credit to the defense. A careful scrutiny of the records shows that Marites' straightforward and candid account of her traumatic experience reveals that she was impelled by no other motive than to bring to justice the defiler of her maidenhood. | |||||