She told the court that her mother was in prison and it was her grandmother who took care of her and an older sister in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
And when her father took custody of her last year, he repeatedly raped her in their rented room in Valenzuela City.
But despite all these travails, Marie (not her real name) learned the meaning of justice after a Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge sentenced yesterday her father, Rogelio Lomboy, to die by lethal injection after he was found guilty of committing the crime.
In his 10-page-decision, Judge Floro Alejo of RTC Branch 172 also ordered the accused to pay Marie P200,000 in damages.
Court records showed that Lomboy, a factory worker residing in Lacson Building, Barangay Malinta, had repeatedly raped his daughter, then 12 years old, in their rented room last year; the last time in the afternoon of Sept. 10, 2000.
Marie told the court that she slept with her father in the same bed and that he often raped her. She said she always resisted her father’s advances but was overpowered by him.
Once, Lomboy even beat her up in a fit of jealousy after he accused her of flirting with a co-worker at the canteen, owned by barangay councilman Jaime Cortez, where she worked as a dish washer.
The victim said she told the police of her ordeal a week after the last sexual abuse, with the help of Lomboy’s girlfriend, Lolita, and Cortez.
Lolita, however, later told the court that she had merely fabricated the story with Marie to make Lomboy, a heavy drinker, reform.
In his defense, Lomboy denied raping Marie and concurred with Lolita’s testimony. He added that on Sept. 10, Marie slept at the canteen where she worked while he stayed in their rented room in Lacson Building, some 70 meters away. – Nikko Dizon