[G.R. No. 146697. July 23, 2002] PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, pl !"#!$$% pp&ll&&, '(.

LEON)R*O F)+RE y ,I-ENTE, ..u(&/% pp&ll "#. F)-TS0 Leonardo Fabre was adjudged guilty of raping his own daughter Marilou Fabre. The trial court gave credence to the evidence given by the prosecution, particularly to the narration of the young complainant, expressing a quote from an observation once made by this Tribunal in one of its decision that even when consumed with revenge, it !would" ta#e a certain amount of psychological depravity for a young woman to concoct a story which !could" put her own father for the rest of his remaining life in jail and drag herself and the rest of her family to a lifetime of shame.$ %n &' (pril )**+, around four o,cloc# in the afternoon, Marilou Fabre was alone in their house in -arangay Manat, Trento, (gusan del .ur. (dela Fabre, her mother, had gone to /uro# 0 to buy fish while her siblings were out strolling. (fter cleaning their yard, Marilou went to the adjacent palm plantation, about fourteen to fifteen meters away from their house, to gather palm oil. Marilou had been gathering palm oil for about a minute when her father, appellant Leonardo Fabre, arrived. 1e suddenly gripped Marilou,s hands and forcibly dragged her towards the house. 1e closed the door and removed his daughter,s underwear. 1e too# off his pants and as#ed Marilou to hold his sex organ. 2n tears, Marilou obeyed her father. 1e then began touching the girl,s breasts and vagina. 1e forced her to lie down, mounted her and sought to insert his penis into her organ. Marilou cried in pain. 3hen after some time he still could not insert his penis into Marilou,s vagina, he applied coconut oil to lubricate his and his daughter,s sexual organs. 1e was finally able to penetrate her. %nce inside her, appellant made push and pull movements until he was through with her. (ppellant threatened to #ill her if she would tell anybody about the sexual encounter. The young girl,s mother, (dela Fabre, arrived home about five o,cloc# that afternoon but, remembering her father,s threats, she #ept mum about her ordeal. ISS1E0 314T145 T14 T52(L 6%75T 85(94L: 4554; 2< <%T 8292<8 654;4<64 T% L4%<(5;% F(-54 y 9264<T4,. ;4F4<.4 %F (L2-2 (<; ;4<2(L HEL*0 The alibi of appellant itself would not appear to be deserving of serious consideration. 1is account that at the time of the alleged rape he was wor#ing at a coconut plantation, just about one #ilometer away from the place of the crime, hardly would amount to much. <or would the testimony of (dela Fabre, his wife, merit any better regard. (t first, she testified that on the day of the rape incident, she had left their house at four o,cloc# in the afternoon. Later, however, she changed her story by saying that she had left the house in the morning and returned only at ten o,cloc# that same morning, staying home the whole day thereafter. 2n any event, in order that alibi might prosper, it would not be enough for an accused to prove that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed= he would have to demonstrate li#ewise that he could not have been physically present at the place of the crime or in its immediate vicinity at the time of its commission. 6learly, in the instant case, it was not at all impossible nor even improbable for appellant to have been at the crime scene. 7pon the other hand, the evidently candid and straightforward testimony of Marilou should be more than enough to rebut the claim of innocence made by appellant. The credibility of Marilou would not be all that difficult to discern from her narration that, as so described by the prosecution, was full of graphic details which a young provincial girl could not possibly have concocted and which could only have come from someone who must have personally experienced a brutal rape assault.$ .he testified> /5%.. 4<52?74@> ? <ow, Miss Marilou, can you recall where were you on (pril &', )**+ at about 0>AA o,cloc# in the afternoonB ( :es, sir. ? 3here were you that timeB ( 2n our house, sir. ? 3hat were you doing in your houseB ( 2 was cleaning our yard, sir. ? 1ow far is your yard where you were doing some wor#s from your houseB ( !3itness pointing a distance of around & to C meters." ? <ow, while you were doing your wor# in your yard, can you recall if there was an incident that occurredB ( :es, sir. ? 3hat was that incident that occurredB ( 3hile 2 was gathering a palm oil my father arrived and suddenly dragged me to our house, sir. 6%75T> ? 3here is your house locatedB

( (t /uro# 0, Manat, Trento, (gusan del .ur, :our 1onor. /5%.. 4<52?74@> ? 3hat did you do when your father dragged you to your houseB ( -ecause 2 was dragged by my father to our house 2 just went with him, sir. ? 3hile you were in your house after having been dragged by your father, what happened if anyB ( 1e closed our house and he removed my panty, sir. ? (nd after removing your panty, what did your father do nextB ( 1e removed his pants and he let me hold his penis, sir. ? (nd what did you do next after holding his penisB ( 2 was crying, sir. ? 3hile you were crying what did your father doB ( 1e was touching my breast and my vagina, sir. ? (fter that what did he do nextB ( 1e let me lie down, sir. ? (nd while lying down, what did your father doB ( 1e mounted me and he inserted his penis, to my vagina, sir. ? (nd what did you feel while your father was inserting his penis to your vaginaB ( 9ery painful, sir. ? (nd what did you do while your father was inserting his penis to your vaginaB ( 2 was crying, sir. ? (nd while you were crying what did your father do if anyB ( 1e told me not to tell anybody because if 2 will do it he will #ill me, sir. ? <ow, did your father find it easy to insert his penis to your vaginaB ( 2t Dtoo#E a long time, sir. ? (nd did he use anything to facilitate the insertion of his penis to your vaginaB ( :es, sir. ? 3hat was thatB ( 1e used coconut oil in his penis and also in my vagina so that his penis can easily insert my vagina, sir. ? <ow, while his penis was in your vagina, can you tell this 1onorable 6ourt if he did anything also on top of you and while his penis was inside your vaginaB ( <one, sir. ? ;id he ma#e any movementB ( :es, sir. ? 3hat was that movementB ( 1e made a push and pull movement on my body, sir. ? <ow, while your father was doing it to you where was your mother that timeB ( .he was in /uro# 0, Manat, Trento, (gusan del .ur, sir. ? (nd did you report this incident to your motherB ( <ot yet sir because he told me not to tell anybody. ? .o when did you had a chance to tell your mother about this incidentB ( %n May ), )**+, sir. ? (nd what did your mother do after you reported to her this incidentB ( .he reported Dthe matterE to the Fagawad, sir.$ 2t has been stressed quite often enough that the testimony of a rape victim, who is young and still immature, deserves faith and credence for it simply would be unnatural for a young and innocent girl to invent a story of defloration, allow an examination of her private parts and thereafter subject herself and her family to the trauma of a public trial unless she indeed has spo#en the truth. Most especially, a daughter would not accuse her own father of such a serious offense or allow herself to be perverted if she were not truly motivated by a desire to see# a just retribution for a violation braGenly committed against her. 6onfirming Marilou,s story was the medical report and testimony of ;r. 5einerio Halalon, the government physician stationed at the -unawan ;istrict 1ospital in (gusan del .ur, who examined Marilou. ;r. Halalon concluded that it was possible that genital penetration on the victim did occur and that a penis could have caused the abrasion on the victim,s labia minora.