Case Digest (G.R. No. 227866)
Facts:
On July 15, 2009, People of the Philippines filed two counts of rape against Tahir Tamano y Toguso for acts alleged to have occurred on July 13, 2009 at malls and a motel in Muntinlupa City, after the victim (AAA) drank a beverage, became groggy, and was forcibly subjected to sexual acts. The Regional Trial Court convicted Tamano on December 1, 2013; the Court of Appeals affirmed on February 5, 2016 with increased damages, and Tamano appealed to the Supreme Court.Issues:
- Was Tahir Tamano y Toguso proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt of two counts of rape under Art. 266-A, as amended by R.A. No. 8353?
- Were AAA’s declarations upon regaining consciousness admissible as part of *res gestae*?
Ruling:
The appeal was dismissed for lack of merit and the Court affirmed the conviction with modification of damages; Tahir Tamano y Toguso was held guilty of two counts of simple rape and sentenced to reclusion perpetua, and ordered to pay, for each count, P5,000.00 civil indemnity, P7 Case Digest (G.R. No. 227866)
Facts:
- Parties and charge
- People of the Philippines filed two informations dated July 15, 2009 charging Tahir Toguso Tamano with two counts of rape under Art. 266-A, Revised Penal Code, as amended by R.A. No. 8353.
- The victim is identified in the records as AAA.
- Factual narrative according to the prosecution
- On the evening of July 12, 2009, AAA went to Metropolis Mall, Muntinlupa City to purchase an LCD for a PlayStation; a man at a stall took her PlayStation and placed it in a glass cabinet; that man signaled another stallholder identified as Tamano.
- Tamano retrieved AAA’s PlayStation and later took her Motorola cellphone, invited her to go out with him, and promised to return the PlayStation only if she agreed.
- AAA left but returned on July 13, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. to recover her cellphone; after unsuccessful calls and texts, Tamano phoned and instructed her to meet him at Jollibee in Metropolis Mall to get her phone back.
- At Jollibee Tamano grabbed AAA’s hand, led her to a far table, and a waiter served two meals with a Coke which AAA drank; she immediately felt groggy, dizzy, weak, and disoriented.
- Tamano grabbed AAA, dragged her through a dark alley and into a room with towels, a mirror, a bed and an air-conditioning unit; he removed her clothes, groped her, pinned down her lower extremity, inserted his penis into her vagina and thrust despite her struggles and pleas.
- Tamano thereafter dragged AAA to a toilet, washed himself and her, forced her to perform oral sex, rubbed his penis on her face, and later escorted her to a jeepney to Festival Mall where he again purchased a beverage and ordered her to drink it.
- AAA sought help in the ladies’ comfort room from a janitress, fainted, regained consciousness surrounded by persons and Tamano, escaped briefly, fainted again, and upon regaining consciousness reported to a security guard and later at Ospital ng Muntinlupa that Tamano raped her.
- Medical treatment followed at the hospital; a Medico‑Legal Officer later affirmed the presence of spermatozoa on AAA’s vagina.
- Factual narrative according to the defense
- Tamano admitted that he had sexual intercourse with AAA but asserted it was consensual and recounted a different chronology: meeting AAA on July 11 and 12, 2009; AAA allegedly invited him to eat and to accompany her to get a PlayStation.
- The defense claimed they went voluntarily to a motel, that AAA invited sexual activity, that she unbuttoned his pants and only after his refusal she had sex with him because she cried and threatened to shout.
- The defense maintained that after intercourse they proceede...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Central issue presented
- Whether Tahir Toguso Tamano is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of two counts of simple rape.
- Subsidiary legal issue raised on appeal
- Whether AAA’s declarations upon regaining consciousness are admissible as part of the *res gestae* and,...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)