A man who gave P5 to an eight-year-old girl after raping her in Tondo in 2002 was sentenced to reclusion perpetua or a maximum of 40 years’ imprisonment by a Manila court on Thursday.
Judge Silverio Castillo of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 48 found Ronaldo Boneo alias "Onat" guilty of rape based on the young victim's positive identification of him as the perpetrator 15 minutes after the assault.
Records showed that on February 6, 2002, the girl came home with P5 in her hand and told her uncle that a man forcibly took her in a sugar warehouse, raped her and gave her the money afterward.
In a 14-page decision, the court stressed that the testimony of a young rape victim "deserves full credit."
The court said the P5 was a bribe meant to placate the child. It added that the child could not have invented her narration, given her innocence about sex.
Aside from the medico-legal evidence supporting the victim's claims, the court also stressed that the girl easily pointed to her attacker in a billiard hall where she was taken by her uncle upon learning of the crime.
"The identification of the suspect-accused took place 15 minutes after the incident. In other words, the identity and the physical appearance of the accused was still fresh in the mind of the victim who is of tender age at the time of commission," said Castillo.
The judge said Boneo merely denied the accusations, and that he remained silent, which the judge took to be "implied admission."
In cases of rape involving women below 12 years old, "the absence of free consent is presumed," the judge said.
Apart from meting 40 years imprisonment, the court also ordered Boneo to pay the victim's legal expenses.(Philippine Daily Inquirer)
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Topic: Man who raped kid, then gave her P5, gets 40 years in jail (Read 790 times)