This case has been cited 4 times or more.
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2015-11-10 |
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J. |
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| Verily, the findings of facts and assessment of credibility of witnesses are matters best left to the trial court because of its unique position of having observed that elusive and incommunicable evidence of the witnesses' deportment on the stand while testifying, which opportunity is denied to the appellate courts, subject to certain exceptions. Absent any showing that the trial judge overlooked or misapplied some facts or circumstances of weight which would affect the result of the case, or that the judge acted arbitrarily, the trial judge's assessment of credibility deserves the appellate court's highest respect.[24] | |||||
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2004-01-14 |
VITUG, J. |
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| "Q It penetrated but not completely is that what you mean? "A Yes, Your Honor."[10] The medical report that there have been "healed lacerations" found in the 3 and 8 o'clock hymenal positions would not refute the existence of rape. Proof of entry of the male organ within the labia of the pudendum is sufficient.[11] The full penetration of the victim's sex organ is not required to consummate the crime of rape. Neither is proof of hymenal laceration an element of rape.[12] In People v. Madronio,[13] the Court has said that the "presence of an old healed laceration on [the victim's] hymen does not negate the commission of rape," and that a "freshly broken hymen is not an essential element of the crime." Moreover, a medico-legal report is not indispensable in the prosecution of a rape case, it being merely corroborative in nature.[14] In this case, the medical report also reflects the fact that the victim has had "[n]o abrasions, hematoma and contusions" in "the vulva or in other parts of the body," that belie appellant's claim that he only "mauled" the victim with his bare hands, instead of sexually abusing her, that night of 22 April 1996. | |||||
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2000-07-31 |
MENDOZA, J. |
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| The trial court correctly awarded moral damages in the amount of P50,000.00, in accordance with our recent rulings that moral damages may be awarded in rape cases without any need of proof of moral suffering. However, in addition, civil indemnity in the amount of P50,000.00 should have been awarded the complainant consistent with the ruling that rape victims are entitled to such an award without need of proof except the fact of the commission of the offense.[43] On the other hand, the plea of the prosecution that the indemnity should be raised to P75,000.00 cannot be granted because such amount is awarded only in cases of qualified rape. In this case, there were no qualifying circumstances raising the penalty to death.[44] | |||||
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2000-03-01 |
PER CURIAM |
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| The Court perceives no tenability in the theory of accused-appellant that the charges levelled against him are but retaliatory moves on the part of his wife, who wanted to end their marriage, and on the part of his daughters, who suffered maltreatment in his hands. [15] In a long line of cases, this Court has consistently ruled that such a defense is simply unbelievable and too unnatural to merit faith and credit. It is hard to fathom that a parent would use her offsprings as engines of malice especially if the same would subject them to humiliation, nay stigma. No mother in her right mind would expose her daughters to the disgrace and trauma resulting inevitably from a prosecution for rape, if she was not motivated truly by a desire to incarcerate the person responsible for her daughters' defilement. In the same vein, a mother would not subject her daughter to such an ignominy merely to end her relationship with her husband or to retaliate against him for his transgressions as a family man. And it is unbelievable for a daughter to charge her own father with rape at the expense of being ridiculed. Consequently, as the defense utterly failed to prove that the principal witnesses for the People were improperly motivated, the presumption is that they were not so moved and therefore, their testimony is entitled to full faith and credence. [16] | |||||