The Regional Trial Court has recently found a San Andres man guilty of sexually assaulting the live-in partner of his own son in April 2019.
RTC Branch 43 Presiding Judge Lelu P. Contreras sentenced the accused to suffer imprisonment ranging from four (4) years, two (2) months and one (1) day as minimum, to eight (8) years and one (1) day as maximum.
He was also ordered to pay the victim, AAA, a total of P90,000 as civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages.
Information recorded in the police blotter stated that the victim, 23, claimed that at around 11:30 P.M. of April 7, 2019, while she was sleeping together with her two minor children inside their room, she was suddenly awakened when she felt somebody touching her sex organ and inserting a finger in it.
She saw the father of her live-in partner gesturing with his free hand and telling her “Saro sana” and then covering her mouth. Despite her resistance, it took 30 minutes for the accused to stop what he was doing.
When he left the room, she immediately escaped through the kitchen and told the grandmother of his partner, then working in Metro Manila.
In court, she said it was the second time he abused her, as he also caressed her buttocks while in Laguna but he claimed there was a mosquito on it.
In his defense, the accused denied her claims and said he only tapped her shoulder as she was squeezing her one-year old daughter in her sleep.
He said her motive in accusing him of the serious offense was because he had been admonishing them to live independently in Codon. He also said that the grandmother testified against him because they had conflicts before.
His own daughter also testified that she heard the baby crying and saw her father stand, go to the area where AAA was sleeping and tapped her on the shoulder to wake her up.
The Court was not convinced as it found their version of the incident “highly incredible to be true.”
It noted that sketches drawn by the accused and his daughter showed he and AAA were sleeping on the opposite ends of the sleeping area and his view of the child was blocked by the bodies of his wife and three children.
His act of inserting his finger inside her sexual organ while she was still asleep is akin to her being unconscious and consummated the crime of sexual assault, Judge Contreras stressed.