Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 Judge Renato Fuentes convicted Eleuterio Baudon, 38, of two counts of rape and for the death of their unborn child, and handed him two sentences of reclusion perpetua. A life term is equivalent to 40 years.
The judge also ordered Baudon to pay his wife P100,000 in damages.
Records show that Baudon is the first husband convicted of marital rape by a local court since the effectivity of Republic Act 8353 or the Anti-Rape Law of 1996.
In her complaint, Baudon’s wife said her husband sexually assaulted her thrice in September last year in spite of her repeated pleas that she was in a delicate condition due to her pregnancy.
The sexual assaults led to her miscarriage, she said. While recuperating, she said Baudon again raped her on Sept. 16 last year, causing her to suffer bleeding.
In his decision, Fuentes said Baudon committed marital rape only to satisfy his lust. The verdict, he said, was short of death penalty because the evidence "failed to establish that the accused intentionally caused the abortion."