A Regional Trial Court judge sentenced a jeepney driver to 17 years, four months and one day of imprisonment yesterday for raping the 9-year-old niece of his wife at his house in Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City about eight years ago.
RTC Branch 41 Judge Ray Alan Drilon found the accused, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim, guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
He also ordered him to pay his victim P75,000 as moral damages and P25,000 as exemplary damages.
The victim, then 9 years old, told the court that in the afternoon of August 7, 2005, she was asked by her grandmother to go to the house of her aunt, the wife of the accused, to bring money.
After giving the money, the victim claimed that she stayed for a while and played with her cousins until the accused came and brought her inside the restroom, where he bathed her and allegedly inserted his fingers in her private parts.
She added that the accused also brought her to his room and did the same thing to her.
It took the complainant four months before she told her grandmother about what had been done to her.
Medical Examination conducted by City Medico Legal Officer Ely Cong showed that the victim had, indeed been molested.
The accused denied the allegations, saying he was at work when the alleged molestation happened, while his wife, who testified in his defense, claimed that she did not see the incident.
Another witness who testified in defense of the accused, told the court that she saw him driving his jeep when the alleged molestation of the victim happened.
However, Drilon said that the court was not persuaded by the defendant’s defense of alibi.
He said the denial of the defendant and his alibi are much too weak against the testimony of the victim.*APN back
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