[ G.R. No. 3570. December 23, 1907 ] 9 Phil. 434
[ G.R. No. 3570. December 23, 1907 ]
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. ELIGIO C. GARCIA, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT. D E C I S I O N
TORRES, J.:
Late at night on the 4th of May, 1906, Maria Amparo, a married woman, whose husband was absent at the time, being asleep in company with her mother-in-law, Maria Manalo, in her own house, situated in tlie barrio of Tibag, municipality of Calapan, Island of Mindoro, was suddenly awakened by feeling that an individual had stretched himself over her; she then cried out for the mother-in-law, saying that there was somebody in the house, and at the same time caught her assailant by the hair, and after having managed in some way to raise herself up, the assailant made efforts to throw her down, but owing to her cries and the noise of the struggle, the mother-in-law awoke, and, striking a match, at once recognized the accused as the man who was trying to outrage Maria Amparo. The mother-in-law caught him by the coat in order to separate him from the assaulted person; he then went toward the door of the house dragging along Maria Manalo, whom he pushed and threw to the floor; the latter, however, managed to get up and going downstairs pursued the accused, though she failed to overtake him. She at once reported the affair to the lieutenant of the barrio, who called at the house of the offended parties and found that the accused had left his hat on the mat (petate) on which the rape was attempted; said hat was offered as evidence at the trial in the court of the justice of the peace.
A complaint was filed by the provincial fiscal on the 12th of September, 1906, and proceedings having been instituted by reason thereof, the judge, in view of the result, sentenced Eligio Cruz Garcia to the penalty of six months and one day of prision correccional, and to pay the costs; from said decision counsel for the accused appealed.
The facts stated and proven in this cause constitute the crime of attempted rape, defined and punished under article 438 in connection with article 3, paragraph 3, and article 66 of the Penal Code, inasmuch as the accused, without being in any way connected with Maria Amparo, a married woman, entered her house at a late hour of night at a time when her husband was absent, and forcibly tried to outrage her while asleep, against her will, using violence on her person; and notwithstanding the resistance made by the woman and in spite of her cries to her mother-in-law, who was asleep at a short distance from her in the same house, refused to abandon his criminal purpose. It is an unquestionable fact that the accused was stretched over the offended woman and that when the latter managed to raise herself, the accused endeavored to throw her down, and that from the beginning when she woke up she noticed that her skirt had been raised to the knee; it can not be denied that the accused had begun the commission of his criminal intent to forcibly outrage the offended party, and if he did not perform all of the acts necessary to consummate the crime it wras owing to the stubborn resistance offered by the woman and to assistance rendered by her mother-in-law, Maria Manalo.
The accused pleaded not guilty, but notwithstanding his denial and allegations and the evidence offered by the defense, the case furnishes full and complete proof of his guilt as the convicted principal in the crime herein.
The statements of the offended woman, Maria Amparo, and of. her mother-in-law, Maria Manalo, who was an eyewitness of the affair, both women having thoroughly recognized the accused by the light of a match struck by the last-named woman when she awoke, besides the fact that Eligio Cruz Garcia was previously known to them as a resident of the place, are confirmed by the next-door neighbor, Mariano Madrigal, who, upon being awakened by the cries coming from the house of the offended party, opened his window and looked out and shortly thereafter saw the accused, whom he then recognized, going out, running without his hat and pursued for some distance by Maria Manalo.
It further appears in the case, according to the testimony of Maria Manalo, that the father of the accused, Leonardo Cruz Garcia, approached her, asking her pardon for what had taken place and offering to pay for all damages caused, and that the accused, according to the testimony of the offended woman, as stated in page 97 of the record, in the presence of the provincial fiscal and of the copyist, Juan Gozar, asked her to pardon him for the offense he had committed; such pardon asked by him is a further proof of his guilt The court ordered this statement read into the record in spite of the opposition and exception of the counsel for the accused.
The evidence adduced by the defense could in no manner counteract the satisfactory result of that offered by the prosecution because notwithstanding the alibi attempted by the accused, the fact that both he and his father did not recognize the hat left behind when running away on the night in question, and the affirmation of two individuals, Pedro Mercado and Martin Membrot,who it is said were on duty patrolling the town on that night, to the effect that they questioned the women as to who was the man that committed the act, and that their reply was that they failed to recognize him; his culpability appears to have been well established inasmuch as said abili can not destroy the testimony of the offended woman and her mother-in-law, corroborated by Mariano Madrigal, who also saw the accused leaving the house in question, running without a hat because he had left it behind in the house; the hat was immediately offered as evidence in the court of the justice of the peace when information of the fact was filed, and in the light of what is affirmed by the offended parties it is not possible to admit the statements of the two policemen, and Avith more reason if what was declared by Eliseo Paras, that the two said individuals, Mercado and Meinbrot, were not detailed to do duty on the night in question, is taken into account.
In the commission of the crime the aggravating circumstance of the attempted rape having been performed at a late hour and in the darkness of night must be considered, and also that the house of the offended woman was entered in order to carry it out; which effects are compensated by the special circumstance established as a mitigating one by article 11; therefore, the penalty of prision correccional should be imposed in its medium degree.
By virtue of the foregoing considerations, it is our opinion that the judgment appealed from should be affirmed, provided, however, that the accused shall be sentenced to the penalty of three years of prision correccional, to suffer the accessory penalties of article 61, and to pay the costs of both instances. So ordered.
Arellano, G. J., Mapa, Johnson, Willard, and Tracey, JJ., concur.