Cebu hotelier convicted of molesting own child, 3

CEBU CITY — Hotelier Theodore Sy was found guilty yesterday of sexually molesting his three-year-old daughter and must serve 17 years behind bars.

Sy escaped being meted the death penalty when Regional Trial Court judge Isaias Dicdican downgraded the charge of rape to acts of lasciviousness after the prosecution failed to support their case.

In a 55-page decision, the court also ordered Sy to indemnify his daughter the sum of P75,000 and to pay an additional P50,000 for moral damages.

Sy was accused by his estranged wife of sexually molesting their daughter from June of 1998 to July 2 of the same year.

Dicdican said witnesses presented by the prosecution were not able to provide sufficient evidence against Sy to find him guilty of rape beyond reasonable doubt.

The charges were downgraded from rape because the court said the intent to rape was not proven and that there was no physical evidence that the child suffered actual penetration. — Freeman News Service