People of the Philippines v. Bernabe Pareja Y Cruz, G.R. No. 202122 (2014)

The appellant was convicted of two counts of statutory rape of his 13-year-old stepdaughter. He sought to overturn the conviction on the grounds that the victim’s testimony was not credible and inconsistent. The Supreme Court explained the recognized rule is that the “assessment of the credibility of witnesses is a domain best left to the trial court judge … and when his findings have been affirmed by the Court of Appeals, these are generally binding and conclusive upon this Court.”  While there are some exceptions to this rule, the Supreme Court found no substantial reason to overturn the identical conclusions of the trial and appellate courts on victim credibility. The Supreme Court affirmed the rulings of the lower courts, sentencing the appellant to two prison terms of between six months and four years, and also increased the victim’s award of damages to a total of PHP 120,000.00.

Topics

• Sexual violence and rape
• Statutory rape or defilement

Geographical location

• Asia
• Philippines

Keywords

• credibility
• child abuse
• criminal law and procedure
• sentencing
• victim rights
• witness evidence

Year

• 2014

External URL

• People of the Philippines v. Bernabe Pareja Y Cruz, G.R. No. 202122 (2014)

Court

• Supreme Court of the Philippines

Type

• Domestic Case Law

Jurisdiction

• Philippines