A Quezon City regional trial court judge sentenced to 40 years in prison yesterday a police officer who raped a vendor two years ago.
Saying the officer belonged to the "ranks of lechers," Branch 219 Judge Jose Catral-Mendoza also ordered PO3 Eduardo de Guzman to pay his victim, Fatima Dilabakin-Lingling, P100,000 in damages.
The married woman was arrested by De Guzman and two other officers of the Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Division along Tandang Sora Avenue in Quezon City on the pretext of a drug operation, court records showed.
The 27-year-old Mindanao native was dragged to a patrol car and taken to the Central Police District in Camp Karingal, Sikatuna Village for interrogation.
Finding that she did not have any shabu, De Guzman's colleagues urged him to release her.
Instead, the police officer brought her out of the office still in handcuffs, and took her for a ride in his jeep around the camp for about 30 minutes before bringing her to a small hut where he forced himself on her, Lingling told the court.
The prosecutor presented in court the findings of Dr. Ma. Cristina Freyra, the PNP Criminal Laboratory Service medico-legal officer who examined the victim a day after the alleged rape.
In his defense, De Guzman presented a colleague, Police Officer 3 Lucio Husmalaga, who testified that they had not arrested anyone by the name of Fatima Lingling or brought in anyone who answers to that name on the day of the alleged rape.
The accused said Lingling was only getting back at him because he had arrested her lover, a certain Akmat Indawi Mamarinta. But the woman denied this. Lingling also said Husmalaga was not among the officers who arrested her.
The judge believed her testimony and brushed aside De Guzman's alibi.
"Denials, if unsubstantiated by clear and convincing evidence, are negative self-serving evidence which deserve no weight in law," said the judge in his nine-page decision. "As between the positive declaration of the prosecution witness and the negative statements of the accused, the former deserves more credence."
Mendoza also noted the findings of Dr. Freyra, who testified that the woman had indeed been raped.
But De Guzman is still lucky: Under the law, a rape, when committed by a police officer, is punishable by death. The judge, however, said even if he was a police officer and the crime happened inside a police camp, De Guzman "did it in his private capacity and not in his capacity as an arresting officer or as her custodian."
The judge said De Guzman's colleagues had already advised him to let her go after finding no evidence of drug use or possession. Thus, when he brought her to a hut in the camp to abuse her, "he was no longer performing his duty."
"This deduction appears debatable but in criminal cases, in case of doubt, it should be resolved in favor of the accused," said Mendoza.