G.R. No. 192428 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. ELPEDIO CASTAÑAS Y ESPINOSA ACCUSED-.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, this [c]ourt finds the accused Elpedio Castañas Y Espinosa GUILTY in Criminal Case No. N-2295; hereby imposing upon him the penalty of DEATH by lethal injection. The accused shall pay [AAA] the amount of P75,000.00 as moral damages and to further pay P50,000.00 in civil indemnity for the rape committed. [10] On intermediate review, the Court of Appeals rendered the assailed decision affirming with modification the trial court's judgment, to wit: WHEREFORE , in view of all the foregoing, the assailed Decision of the Regional Trial Court dated November 30, 2004 finding accused-appellant Elpedio Castañas y Espinosa guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Rape is hereby AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION . Accordingly, accused-appellant is sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua and is ordered to indemnify AAA the amounts of P75,000.00 as civil indemnity, P75,000.00 as moral damages and P25,000.00 as exemplary damages. [11] Appellant filed the instant appeal. In a Resolution [12] dated 04 August 2010, appellant and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) were asked to file their respective supplemental briefs if they so desired. OSG manifested that it was adopting its brief filed before the appellate court [13] while appellant filed his Supplemental Brief [14] in which he insists that if he indeed raped AAA, such a violent act would have left a physical sign or mark. We affirm the appellant's conviction. Rape is committed as follows: Article 266-A. Rape; When and How committed . - Rape is committed - 1. By a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances: Through force, threat or intimidation; When the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; By means of fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; and When the woman is under twelve (12) years of age or is demented, even though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present. x x x x Article 266-B. Penalties - Rape under paragraph 1 of the next preceding article shall be punished by reclusion perpetua . x x x x The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: x x x x 5) When the victim is a child below seven (7) years old; x x x x Statutory rape is committed by sexual intercourse with a woman below twelve (12) years of age regardless of her consent, or the lack of it to the sexual act. Proof of force, intimidation, or consent is unnecessary. These are not elements of statutory rape as the absence of free consent is conclusively presumed when the victim is below the age of twelve. At that age, the law presumes that the victim does not possess discernment and is incapable of giving intelligent consent to the sexual act. To convict an accused of the crime of statutory rape, the prosecution carries the burden of proving; (1) the age of the complainant; (2) the identity of the accused; and (3) the sexual intercourse between