Court clears man of rape charges

CEBU, Philippines - The court dismissed a case filed against a man accused of rape in Minglanilla eight years ago for lack of evidence.

Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan of Regional Trial Court Branch 24 dismissed the criminal case filed against Placido Taña because of the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In his eight-page decision, Himalaloan found no evidence to hold Taña, alias Flash, for the rape of a three-year-old girl in 2005.

“Wherefore, premises considered, the court hereby acquits accused for his guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt,” Himalaloan said in his decision.

Himalaloan also ordered the warden of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) to release the accused.

The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office indicted Taña, Lyndon Aventajado, Archibal Cañete, Eman Sepayla, Serge Rio Lao Mantalaba and Ramil Laspuña for rape before the court.

However, in a court resolution dated November 10, 2011, the case against Aventajado, Cañete, Sepayla, Mantalaba and Laspuña was dismissed due to insufficiency of evidence.

The incident happened around 7 p.m. on October 8, 2005 at Poblacion Ward 1, Minglanilla.

The medico-legal certificate of the victim showed that she was sexually abused.

In her testimony, the victim said that while she was playing with their motorcycle, a man approached and told her that they would buy food. The victim was alone at that time.

The victim was found the following day by Julian Gimenez, a resident of Minglanilla, quietly squatting down a piece of sack.

Bebiana Andales said that while she was tending her store, a man approached her five-year-old daughter, who was playing at that time.

She said she was told by her daughter that a man, whom she later identified in the court as the accused, gave her daughter one peso and offered P20 if she would go with him to a place.

However, she said she cautioned her daughter not to go with the man. Later she said she saw the man approached another child, who was playing near a motorcycle. The man was later identified as the victim.

Himalaloan, in his decision, said there was a contradicting statement made by the victim.

“In her sworn statement she stated that there were many perpetrators contrary to her open court testimony that only one man raped her. She pointed five suspects during the mugshot identification facilitated by the women desk officer of Minglanilla Police Station. There was no reference made to Taña,” his decision reads.

Himalaloan ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the positive identity of the accused.

“The failure to identify the accused with clarity would be fatal to the case of the prosecution against an accused. It raises doubt in the mind of the court whether or not the accused was indeed the author of the crime charged. Such doubt must be resolved in favor of the accused. The Constitution and the law are clear that in case of reasonable doubt, the accused must be acquitted,” the decision further reads.

But lawyer Rex Fernandez of the prosecution questioned the ruling of the court, saying they will appeal the case by filing a petition for certiorari.

He told The Freeman that the court erred in acquitting the accused. – (FREEMAN)