G.R. No. 123540 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. DELFIN AYO Y ATO, ACCUSED-. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of statutory rape as penalized under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, he is hereby sentenced to suffer the supreme penalty of DEATH. His immediate incarceration at the National Bilibid Prison, pending the automatic review of this case, is hereby ordered. The accused is further ordered to indemnify the offended party, Sarah Mae Ayo, as moral damages in the amount of P50,000.00. Costs de oficio." The case is before us for automatic review. The appellant submits the following assignment of errors in his brief: "I THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GIVING FULL WEIGHT AND CREDENCE TO THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PROSECUTION WITNESSES WHICH ARE UNRELIABLE, UNBELIAVABLE AND THEREFORE NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUSTAIN A CONVICTION BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. II THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT ACQUITING ACCUSED-APPELLANT WHEN THE EVIDENCE ADDUCED BY THE PROSECUTION FAILED TO OVERCOME THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE IN HIS FAVOR BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE OF GUILT BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT." The accused appellant points out certain flaws and inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution which the trial court allegedly overlooked and disregarded. Thus on direct examination Sarah Mae testified that her father was the one who had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions, raising her ten fingers to indicate the number of times she was sexually abused by her father; she stated that everytime her father made love to her, he would look for a piece of cloth with which to wipe something white like mucus ("puti, murag, sip-on") coming from his penis, directing it to her vagina; she felt pain when her father's penis entered her vagina, with blood coming out during every intercourse [5] . However, on cross-examination she admitted that when she says her father raped her, she means that her father was only playing with his penis and something white comes out and he directs the fluid into her vagina; she also admitted that the reason she did not love or like her father is that he always punched her when she is "maldita" and leaves the house to play in the neighbor's house. It is accused-appellant's theory that the victim did not understand the crime she filed against her father. The appellant did not rape his daughter but masturbated his organ only, and accused-appellant was able to demonstrate on re-direct examination how her father masturbated, i.e., with her left hand, "making closed fist and moved it up and down." [6] Accused appellant also cites the testimony of the physician Dr. Danilo Ledesma that no physical injury was noted at the time he examined the victim; the hymen was intact and the orifice was only .5 cm. in diameter which was impossible for an average-sized male organ to penetrate without causing laceration, [7] and there was no damage in the labia, between the labia going to the anus, and the vestibule. [8] Accused-appellant asserts that the rape is a concoction of the victim's