High Court metes death to 70-year-old’s rapist

The Supreme Court upheld yesterday the conviction handed down in January 2000 by a Bacolod City court against a field coordinator of a broadcast station, who raped his 70-year-old Grade 1 teacher, but upped his life sentence to death penalty.

The convict, Hilgem Nerio, 30, was also ordered to pay a total of P150,000 in damages to the septuagenarian-victim, a mother of 11 children and who was once named one of the outstanding mothers of Negros Occidental.

"Considering the presence in this case of the aggravating circumstance of insult or disregard of the respect due the offended party on account of her age and rank, the sentence of reclusion perpetua imposed should be changed to death," the High Court said in its 26-page decision.

Nerio admitted having had sex with the retired schoolteacher, who is also his neighbor in Bacolod City, but claimed that he did not use a knife because it was "voluntary and consensual."

Nerio even boasted that they were "sweethearts" and that they had sex twice prior to the April 1999 rape incident — first on the first week of December 1998 and on the second week of February 1999.

But Nerio apparently has a sick mind because the High Court discovered that he made it appear that the victim was "sex-starved" when he revealed she "grabbed his groin, embraced him, caressed his chest, unzipped his pants, went on top of him, performed oral sex" and even "removed her false teeth" because he felt pain.

"We cannot believe this fantasy. Indeed, the picture painted of her is that of the equivalent of the dirty old man. Why would she take interest in prurient matters and even want to engage in a sexual liaison when ladies of her age are turning their thoughts to virtues?" the High Court said.