Supreme Court upholds man's conviction for raping sister-in-law

The Supreme Court affirmed a 14-year-old girl’s tale that her 30-year-old brother-in-law raped her, despite the man’s claim that she had woven an “incredible” story.

The SC ruled that courts usually give greater weight to the testimony of a girl who is a victim of sexual assault, especially a minor, because no woman would undergo a public trial and put up with the shame, humiliation and dishonor of exposing her own degradation.

As decided by the Court of Appeals on Feb. 15, 2006, there was nothing incredible or fantastic in the victim’s story, the SC added. 

The SC affirmed the decision of the Taguig Regional Trial Court sentencing Mario Castro to a maximum of 40 years in prison for raping his sister-in-law in Taguig on Nov. 11, 1999.

Castro was also ordered to pay the victim P50,000 in civil indemnity and another P50,000 as moral damages.

Court records showed that prior to the rape, Castro fetched the victim from her aunt’s house at the PNR compound in Taguig around 11 p.m. on Nov. 11, 1999.

The accused told the complainant her elder sister collapsed and was taken to a clinic.

Believing the story, the victim went with Castro, who took her to an abandoned building near the TEMIC Factory in Western Bicutan, where he raped her twice.

After raping her, Castro told the victim to dress up and brought her to the jeepney terminal, where she took a ride home.

The victim later revealed the rape to her aunt and grandmother, who accompanied her to the police station.

The SC said Castro did not only have physical superiority but moral ascendancy over the victim, being 30 years old and her brother-in-law.

The threat to inflict physical harm on the victim effectively cowed her into submitting to Castro’s sexual desires, the SC added.

The SC also rejected Castro’s alibi that he was somewhere else at the time the victim was raped.

“While the lone defense witness, Margarita Salangsang, testified that accused was in her house from 9:30 up to 11:45 in the evening of Nov. 11, 1999, this does not negate the possibility that he might be present at the Temic factory where the crime was committed, since Margarita’s house and the Temic factory are both located within Taguig,” read the SC decision.

“Where there is even the least chance for the accused to be present at the crime scene, the defense of alibi will not hold water,” the SC said.

The decision was written by Associate Justice Teresita  Leonardo de Castro. – Sandy Araneta