This case has been cited 4 times or more.
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2002-02-04 |
PER CURIAM |
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| On the amount of damages awarded by the trial court, however, modifications are called for. The amount that should be awarded to the victim of qualified rape as civil indemnity ex delicto should be increased to P75,000 pursuant to current jurisprudence. But the amount awarded as moral damages should be reduced to P50,000 in accordance with applicable case law.[30] | |||||
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2000-03-31 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| Appellant makes much of the fact that the physician who examined the victim a month after the rape testified that the hymenal lacerations could have been inflicted even as far as three (3) months previous to the date of examination. Considering that the medical examination took place almost a month after the rape incident, the physician could at best only estimate the possible date of the rape within the range of a certain period. Furthermore, laceration of the hymen, even if considered the most telling and irrefutable physical evidence of sexual assault, is not always essential to establish the consummation of the crime of rape.[38] In fact, even the absence of hymenal lacerations does not disprove sexual abuse for the mere introduction of the male organ into the labia of the pudendum constitutes carnal knowledge.[39] Insofar as the evidentiary value of a medical examination is concerned, we have held that "a medical examination of the victim, as well as the medical certificate, is merely corroborative in character and is not an indispensable element in rape. What is important is that the testimony of private complainant about the incident is clear, unequivocal and credible."[40] A medical examination is not indispensable to the prosecution of rape as long as the evidence on hand convinces the court that a conviction for rape is proper.[41] | |||||
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2000-03-01 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| Appellant vehemently insists that prosecution witness Dr. Michael Toledo testified that he could not tell if there was penile penetration as there were no lacerations in the private complainant's hymen, which was still intact.[13] Hence, appellant claims he should be given the benefit of the doubt and should only be convicted of frustrated rape. But appellant's virgo intacta theory has already received short shrift from this Court. A broken hymen or laceration of any part of the female genitalia is not a prerequisite for a rape conviction.[14] Nor is a medical examination indispensable to the prosecution of rape, as long as the evidence on hand convinces the court that a conviction for rape is proper.[15] A medical examination of the victim, as well as the medical certificate, is merely corroborative in character.[16] What is important, the trial court said, is that the testimony of private complainant about the incident is clear, unequivocal, and credible.[17] A daughter would not accuse her own father of such an unspeakable crime as incestuous rape had she really not been aggrieved.[18] | |||||
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2000-01-31 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| Appellant now desperately anchors his appeal on the lack of physical evidence of rape on the body of the victim. But his arguments are far from convincing. First, it is well-settled that rupture of the hymen or vaginal lacerations are not necessary for rape to be consummated.[16] Second, a medical examination is not indispensable in the prosecution of a rape victim.[17] Insofar as the evidentiary weight of the medical examination is concerned, we have already ruled that a medical examination of the victim, as well as the medical certificate, is merely corroborative in character and is not an indispensable element for conviction in rape.[18] What is important is that the testimony of private complainant about the incident is clear, unequivocal and credible,[19] and this we find here to be the case. Moreover, Dr. Tebangin himself clarified that since he examined the victim some fourteen (14) days after the incident, it is possible that during examination, there was no longer any evidence of the injuries which she might have sustained as a result of the rape.[20] | |||||