Man gets death by lethal injection for rape of daughter, 6

The Regional Trial Court yesterday sentenced a farmer from Talisay City to die by lethal injection for raping his then six-year-old daughter three years ago.

RTC judge Raphael Yrastorza Sr. ruled Edgar (family name withheld) guilty of rape of his child, now nine years old, in their house in barangay Candulawan, Talisay City on August 26, 2002.

Edgar was also convicted to 12-year imprisonment for sexual molestation when, on the following day after the rape, he again abused his daughter by letting her hold his sex organ while he touched the girl's private parts.

After those two incidents, the girl immediately informed her mother and her aunt of what her father did to her.

Dr. Naomi Poca presented in court the medical certificate issued by the doctors who examined the child, and testified that the victim was really raped.

Edgar waged a defense of denial and alibi contending that his estranged wife who had been cohabiting with another man only fabricated the accusation against him.

But the court gave more credence to the girl's testimony given in court when she was already eight years old.

"The pain on her face on the witness-stand in recalling the bestial acts of her father were not merely theatrical and the tears that flowed in her eyes were spontaneous and real," said the judge.

Yrastorza said the victim's behavior while testifying in court did not show she was prodded by anybody to tell a lie and inculpate her father.

He also said that the defense of denial and alibi has been consistently held to be a weak front against the positive, unadulterated testimony of a victim of tender age.

Yrastorza then ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas to take custody of the child for her to undergo rehabilitation to forget her ordeal.

Meanwhile in another rape case, Yrastorza convicted another farmer from San Fernando town to life imprisonment for raping his 16-year old niece on October 4, 2003.

Yrastorza found Rolando, (surname withheld) guilty of rape of his niece beyond reasonable doubt but the prosecution failed to show proof, such as the victim's birth certificate, that she was 16 years old when raped.

Republic Act 76599 provides that the maximum penalty of death would be imposed against a person who rapes a relative by consanguinity or affinity within the third civil degree, but Yrastorza said this could not be applied to Rolando.

The victim went to a disco dance during a fiesta celebration in barangay Tinubdan of the town but Rolando convinced her to drink a local concoction known as Katyobong that made her dizzy and drunk.