Court of Appeals affirms conviction of rape suspect

CEBU, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of the trial court convicting a man for raping a then 17-year-old school girl in 2008.

In her 18-page decision, Associate   Justice   Pamela  Ann  Abello-Maxino found no mistake in the ruling of the trial court finding accused-appellant Jay-R Catague guilty of rape.

“We agree with such findings. When it comes to credibility, the trial court’s assessment deserves great weight, and is even conclusive and binding if not tainted with arbitrariness or oversight of some fact or circumstance of weight and influence. The reason is obvious,” the decision reads.

Earlier, the trial court convicted accused-appellant and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of 20 to 40 years imprisonment and a fine of P100,000.

However, Catague appealed the case citing that the trial court erred in convicting him. He said the trial court failed to scrutinize the testimony of the victim “with extreme caution.”

“…the actuation of the victim in communicating with a total stranger through mobile text messages and even entertaining his romantic advances even without knowing anything about his background heavily exhibits her daring nature – a stark contrast to the typical conservative Filipina that the prosecution is painting her to be,” he pointed out.

Abello-Maxino however, ruled in favor of the victim citing the actuation of the respondent of raping the victim was against her will.

“…it is a well-entrenched rule that when a woman says she was raped, she says in effect all that is necessary to show that rape was committed. This is all the more true in the instant case, which involves young provincial lass, naïve to the shortcomings of human nature and too trusting in her relationships,” the decision reads.

The incident happened on Feb. 3, 2008 at around 5:00 p.m. inside a motel.

The victim said she knew accused-appellant through text. They became textmates then eventually became lovers. The two knew each other for about a year.

She added she only knew accused-appellant as Justine, single and a security guard. She did not know that the latter was married.

On Feb. 3, the victim said they agreed to meet at the Plaza Independencia. Thereafter, she said accused-appellant grabbed her hand and boarded a public utility jeepney. Not so far, she said accused-appellant told the driver to stop and brought her inside a motel wherein she was allegedly molested. She said she resisted but the latter was stronger.

For his defense, the accused-appellant said what was transpired on Feb. 3 was a “mutual passion which resulted in a consented sexual intercourse.” He said they were “romantically” involved with the victim for over a year.

He added what occurred in a motel was merely the “fulfillment” of the victim’s promise that before she will turn 18 years old she will give her virginity to him.

The accused-appellant denied the allegation of rape.

Abello-Maxino in her decision found the testimony of the victim credible.

“In her testimony before the court and during her cross-examination, the victim ably exhibited in candid detail the betrayal of her trust that accused-appellant, her own sweetheart, did to her. She was able to positively and clearly show that she was ravaged by accused-appellant against her will,” the decision reads.  (FREEMAN)