G.R. No. 132364 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. ALFREDO ALVERO Y TARADO, ACCUSED-.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the accused Alfredo Alvero y Tarado is hereby found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of rape and the penalty of DEATH is hereby imposed upon him and to pay the amount of P50,000.00 to the victim as for moral damages. Let the entire records of this case be elevated to the Supreme Court for review. In convicting accused-appellant, the trial judge explained: [5] In statutory rape cases where the victim is below 12 years old, the circumstances of force, intimidation or that the victim was deprived of reason or was rendered unconscious need not be proven. Proof that sexual intercourse had indeed taken place is sufficient to convict. There are three vital witnesses for the prosecution: First, the testimony of the victim herself Ameera, who unequivocally stated in the witness stand that the accused inserted his penis into her vagina (TSN, Jan. 27, 1997, p. 9); second, the testimony of the Medico-legal Officer that there was hymenal laceration on the vagina of the victim which is normally caused by sexual intercourse (TSN, Jan. 29, 1997, p. 6); and last, the testimony of the mother of Ameerah the victim of what her daughter confided to her of the rape committed by the accused against her (TSN, Feb. 4, 1997, pp. 5 & 6). Furthermore, the Court noted how the victim demonstrated on the witness stand how she was raped by the accused with the use of two dolls, one representing male and the other female and then putting the male doll on top of the female doll and demonstrating by a pumping motion with the aid of the dolls (TSN, Jan. 27, 1997, p. 11). To this Court, the foregoing testimonial and illustrative evidence constitute proof that coitus had indeed taken place between the accused and victim Ameerah. The victim who is such a tender age and absent any evidence that she was coached as there was no evidence to show she was taught or induced to say that she was raped when in fact she was not, for her to fabricate the facts of rape thus charging the accused falsely of the crime of rape is to the mind of the Court certainly beyond her mental capacity. To invent the idea of charging the accused for the crime of rape is simply beyond the mental capacity of this child who was only 4-years old if she was not a victim of the lustful act of rape committed against her. At this point, it is stressed, that the narration of how the rape was committed was delivered by the victim in a straight forward manner. She did not hesitate in her answers to preposterous questions propounded by the defense counsel. The Court debunks the insinuation by the defense of the possibility of coaching by the mother of the victim. The Court believes that no mother of sound mind would expose her child to the possibility of public ridicule and trauma of such a demeaning experience that she will live with throughout her life. In his Brief, accused-appellant assigns a single error in the RTC Decision, thus: [6] THE LOWER COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN CONVICTING