Plaintiff-Appellee: PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Accused-Appellant: PRIMO CAMPUHAN y BELLO, EN BANC
TOPIC: Rape
GIST
Campuhan was found guilty of statutory rape and sentenced by the court a quo to the extreme penalty of death hence the appeal. The crime occurred on day when Corazon, mother of the four-year old victim, heard her daughter cry which prompted her to rush upstairs where she saw Campuhan inside her children’s bedroom kneeling before the victim whose pajamas and panty were already removed, while the shorts of Campuhan were down to his knees. Campuhan questions the validity of the testimony of Corazon, insisting that it was a made-up story since the latter has ill will towards him. Corazon contends that she saw the act and that she saw him forcing his penis into the victim’s vagina.
FACTS
On April 25, 1996 at around 4 PM, Ma. Corazon Pamintuan , mother of the four year old victim, went down from the second floor of their house to prepare drinks for other two children. At the ground floor, she met Primo Campuhan who was then busy filling small plastic bags with water to be frozen into ice in the freezer located at the second floor.
-Accused was the helper of Corazon’s brother.
As Corazon was busy preparing the drinks, she heard one of her daughters cry “Ayoko, ayoko” prompting Corazon to rush upstairs. Where she saw the accused inside her children’s room kneeling before her daughter whose pajamas and panty were removed while accused’s pants were down to his knees.
Physical examination showed negative results:
No evident sign of extra genital physical injury was noted by the medico-legal officer and the hymen was still intact
In Campuhan’s defense, he maintained his innocence. He assailed the charge as mere scheme of Corazon who allegedly bore an ill will against him for his refusal to run an errand. He claims that he and victim were only playing and wanted to ride his back when she suddenly fell on the floor. It was in this fallen position when Corazon saw them.
The accused was charged with the crime of rape and was convicted by the trial court relying heavily on the testimony of Corazon ruling that carnal knowledge took place as full penetration of the vaginal orifice is not an essential ingredient, nor is the rapture of the hymen necessary. The mere touching of the external genitalia by the penis capable of consummating the sexual act is sufficient to constitute carnal knowledge.
ISSUE
Whether or not the accused is guilty of consummated rape
HELD
No, the accused is only guilty of attempted rape.
Judicial depiction of consummated rape has not been confined to the oft-quoted “touching of the female organ” but has also progressed into being described as “the introduction of the male organ into the labia of the pudendum”,or “the bombardment of the drawbridge.”
But in this case, the prosecution has utterly failed in proving that the penis of the accused was able to penetrate the victim’s vagina however slight. Touching when applied to rape cases does not simply mean mere epidermal contact, stroking or grazing of organs, a slight brush or a scrape of the penis on the external layer of the victim's vagina, or the mons pubis, as in this case. There must be sufficient and convincing proof that the penis indeed touched the labias or slid into the female organ, and not merely stroked the external surface thereof, for an accused to be convicted of consummated rape. As the labias, which are required to be "touched" by the penis, are by their natural situs or location beneath the mons pubis or the vaginal surface, to touch them with the penis is to attain some degree of penetration beneath the surface, hence, the conclusion that touching the labia majora or the labia minora of the pudendum constitutes consummated rape.
Furthermore, the penetration was belied by the victim's own testimony.
The possibility of the accused’s penis having breached the victim’s vagina is belied by the child’s own assertion that she resisted the advances by putting her legs close together. Consequently, she did not feel any intense pain but just felt unhappy about what the accused did to her.
In cases where penetration was not fully established, the Court had always anchored its conclusion that rape nevertheless was consummated on the victim’s testimony that she felt pain, or the medico-legal finding of discoloration in the inner lips of the vagina or labia minora was already gaping with redness, or the hymenal tags were no long visible. However, none of these were shown in this case.
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