142 People v Yparraguirre

People v Yparraguirre

"x x x Physical examination externally no abnormal findings;

FACTS:

Pelvic examination -- normal vagina with old laceration found at 2:00 [position]; hymen not intact;

Crispin Yparraguirre was charged with the crime of rape and that the prosecution was able to establish the following facts:

 psychiatrist.

1.

Upon the Municipal Health Officer's advice, AAA

2.

3.

That AAA (name not revealed) was a housemaid of Crispin and his wife (medyo (medyo magulo

5.

Advised for pregnancy test and for consultation by [ sic]

pagkakasulat kahit maikli, kasi may Mary Ann Yparraguirre later na sabi ng decision

was confined at the Davao City Mental Hospital for observation and treatment. After a week of treatment, AAA began to talk and revealed th at she was

was his wife) wife) and the incident happened

raped by Crispin

when she was cooking porridge for their two children. Crispin went went home from work and gave AAA a

 Accused-appellant pled not guilty to the crime charged. He claimed that on the night of the al-

small envelope containing medicine for her skin disease because AAA was afflicted with

leged rape he was selling fish at the public market. Allegedly, he was at the market at at 4:00 in the

rashes on her thighs and stomach allegedly contracted from one of her children said envelope contained 15 tablets Crispin told AAA that she should take all the

morning, and worked straight until 8:00 in the evening. He never left the fish stall until after 8:00 in the evening because of his many customers.

tablets but after doing so, she felt weak and fell down and was later on dragged by Crispin

TRIAL COURT

to their bed and when she resisted a hunting knife was pointed at her neck. After Crispin had carnal knowledge of her, he punched AAA and thus she lost her consciousness. 4.

Internal examination -- admits one finger;

AAA woke woke up up and saw blood in her private parts. Crispin threatened her that he would kill

The trial court found accused-appellant guilty and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua. It also ordered him to indemnify AAA P50,000.00 as moral damages and pa y P5,000.00 as attorney's fees, thus: ISSUE:

her if AAA reports the incident. AAA eventually left the house and did not say a word about the incident. She continued serving the Yparraguirres for one month before leaving them to

1. WON the court erred in holding Crispin guilty of the crime of rape solely on the admission of AAA?

return to her mother's house in Barrio YYY. Her mother found AAA in a state of

Yparraguirre went to the mother of AAA to negotiate compromise even though at that time no crimi-

shock.

nal complaint was made?

She could not eat nor talk, neither could she perform ordinary daily functions such as

HELD:

dressing herself. She was brought to the Municipal Health Officer for examination. Municipal Health Officer, Dr. Imelda T. Bendijo, interviewed the girl and found her unresponsive and unable to talk. She conducted a physical examination and also found that:

2. WON the court erred in holding that Mary Ann

1. NO. THE ADMISSION WAS S UFFICIENT. After

reviewing the records, we find that the prosecution evidence, which rests mainly on the testimony of  AAA, is credible, reliable and trustworthy. AAA testified in a straightforward, spontaneous and candid

manner and never wavered even on cross-exami-

was

nation and rebuttal.

rented room and during work breaks, appellant would sometimes go home to bring food to h is chil-

The inconsistencies in her testimony are minor which tend to buttress, rather than weaken, the conclusion that her testimony was not contrived.

dren.

The question of whether AAA contracted the skin disease from the children of appellant is not im-

raguirre offered AAA s mother 15 K then eventuall 25 k after the refusal of the latter but was still re-

portant. The undisputed fact is that she was afflicted with the disease and that appellant gave her tablets for treatment of the disease. Appellant's al-

fused. BBB, AAA s mother, told Mary Ann about the rape incident which prompted the offer based from Mary Ann s testimony.

legation that AAA should have fallen asleep for hours after ingesting the tablets is speculative.

merely

a

ten-minute

walk

from

their

2. NO. There is evidence in trial that AAA revealed the rape incident to her mother and Mary Ann Ypar’

’

’

There is no evidence that the tablets were sleeping

An offer to compromise does not require that a criminal complaint be first filed before the offer can be received in evidence against the offeror.

tablets. They, however, weakened AAA and prevented her from making any resistance to appel-

What is required is that after committing the crime, the accused or his representative makes an of-

lant's lewd acts. The delay in filing the complaint does not in any way affect AAA's credibility. She was afraid of appellant's threat to her life. The complaint was filed three months after A AA told her

fer to compromise and such offer is proved. proved .

mother of the incident, and three months is not too long a period to file a complaint for rape.  AAA was a seventeen-year old barrio lass and a high school dropout. She was also the breadwinner of the family. It is hard to believe that AAA would fabricate a story of defloration, open herself to public trial and place her family, who depended on her, in a very humiliating and compromising situation for no reason at all. AAA suffered psychologically from the incident. Before the rape, she had been working for the Yparraguirres for two months and the spouses actually found her to be a good worker. When AAA returned to her family, however, she lost her speech and could not perform ordinary daily functions that she had to seek psychiatric treatment. Indeed, AAA's psychological condition could not have been the product of illmotive and fabrication. The positive identification of accused-appellant as the rapist prevails over his defense of alibi. It was not physically impossible for appellant to have been at the scene of the crime. The public market