G.R. No. 131357 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. ERNESTO GARCHITORENA, ACCUSED-.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding accused Ernesto Garchitorena y Medina [g]uilty beyond reasonable doubt, he is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of [r]eclusion [p]erpetua and to pay the costs. "Accused is likewise sentenced to indemnify the offended party the sum of P50,000.00." [3] The Facts Version of the Prosecution In its Brief, [4] the Office of the Solicitor General [5] presents the following narration of the facts: "Jennifer Acosta was nineteen (19) years old at the time she testified in court in 1996. Appellant is her step grandfather, being the live-in partner of her paternal grandmother Rosalina Acosta. Rosalina is separated from her husband. Rosalina and appellant took Jennifer to their custody when the latter was only two (2) years old and until Jennifer was about ten (10) or eleven (11) years old. During that period, however, Jennifer would reside alternately in her grandmother and appellants house at No. 1078 Sta. Monica Subdivision, Ugong, Valenzuela, Metro Manila and her parents house at # 2007 La Mesa St., Ugong, Valenzuela. Rosalina and appellants house is about two hundred (200) steps away, or about five (5) minutes walk [from] Jennifers parents house. "Jennifer was ten (10) or eleven (11) years old when she resided permanently at her parents[] x x x house. But Jennifer would still go to her grandmothers house when she would call for her. Sometimes appellant would fetch Jennifer from her parents house pretending that her grandmother needed her. If Jennifer would refuse to go with appellant, Clarita would scold her. When she was ten (10) years old, Jennifer noticed that appellant treated her differently, such as placing her on his lap, kissing her on the neck or on the cheeks and touching her private parts. Jennifer calls appellant Daddy because her grandmother told her to address appellant as such. According to Jennifer, appellant started raping her when she reached the age of ten (10), but she could no longer remember how many times appellant raped her. The rapes were committed not only in her grandmothers house but also in her parents house. She did not tell anyone about the rapes committed by appellant against her because he threatened to kill her, her grandmother and sister should she (Jennifer) do so. "On February 18, 1996, a Sunday, Jennifer was at the chapel until 11:00 a.m. Thereafter she went home [to] her parents house and had lunch with her parents and sister. Around 1:00 p.m., she went to her grandmothers house. When she arrived at her grandmothers house, appellant and her grandmother were eating lunch at the kitchen. Since Jennifer had eaten her lunch, she took a little food at her grandmothers house. The kitchen was at the back of the store owned by her grandmother and outside the house. After eating, Jennifer went to the sala of the house and lay down on the sofa while appellant left and her grandmother went to the store. The sala was about twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) meters away from the store. The sofa