SC frees 60-year-old rape convict

The Supreme Court (SC) has freed a 60-year-old man from prison after it deemed "incredible" his 33-year-old daughter’s claim that he raped her.

In acquitting Avelino Relox, the SC’s First Division said it was simply impossible for the victim not to be able to resist her father’s sexual attack as he was already very old and weak.

In the decision penned by Justice Adolfo Azcuna, the high tribunal reversed and set aside the ruling of the Romblon regional trial court, which had sentenced Relox to reclusion perpetua, or a maximum of 40 years in prison, and to pay his daughter P100,000 in damages plus the cost of the suit.

Based on court records, the alleged incident occured on June 8, 2000 inside the Reloxes’ one-room house when the victims’ two children and her three younger siblings were sleeping.

The victim’s mother was said to have been ejected by her father after they had an argument.

The SC said it was unbelievable for the victim to say she was helpless during her 30-minute ordeal and could not scream to awaken the others in the room while she was being abused by her own father.

"It is incredible that (the victim) could not put up more resistance against appellant, who was already old and unarmed the entire time. The force and intimidation alleged to have been employed are not of such character as to render (her) a helpless victim," the court said.

The high tribunal noted that eight months after the alleged rape, Relox "could hardly walk, could hardly stand, could hardly move. Thus, it is hard to understand why (the victim) was unable to free her two arms from appellant who was using only one hand to hold them down."

The high tribunal observed that even if the victim is given the benefit of the doubt that she was unable to free herself from her father’s one-handed clutch or to wake up others in the room, "the fact that (she) failed to flee at a moment when she was let go by the appellant remains unexplained."

The SC also said that considering the victim was no longer a minor and had children of her own, the power or moral authority of the father to the victim could not be given much weight anymore.

According to the high tribunal, "while the law does not impose on the rape victim the burden of proving resistance where force was used on her, (her) narration of the incident is open to serious doubts" that resulted in the prosecution’s failure to present "the requisite quantum of evidence" necessary to convict Relox.