PEOPLE V HERNANDEZ
Rape
October 14, 1925
Ponente: Ostrand, J.
SUMMARY:
The defendant is accused of the crime of rape against
Conrada Jocson, a girl under 12 years of age, by
intimidating her with a knife. He was the husband of
Jocson’s grandmother, and the information claims that it
was a crime committed with a grave abuse of confidence,
because the accused and the victim were living in the
same house.
ISSUES:
1. WoN the defendant is guilty of consummated
rape.
FACTS:
1. The defendant is a man 70 years of age and the
victim was only 9 years old.
2. The evidence shows that he and the offended
party were living in the same house and that
taking advantage of the absence of the other
inhabitants of the house, he had intercourse
with the child by force and violence.
3. He admits his crime but maintains that he was
intoxicated at that time and he did not know
what he was doing.
4. The witnesses claim that they did not see signs
that he was intoxicated at the time of the
commission of the crime or afterwards.
5. The lower court found him guilty of frustrated
rape because it believes that there can be no
consummated rape without a complete
penetration of the hymen.
HOLDING:
Supreme Court says that the lower court’s justification is
not in accordance with the weight of authority. The
court holds that finding the hymen intact is not always a
proof that no rape has been committed. Any
penetration whether reaching to the hymen or not is
sufficient to constitute the crime. It is enough if the
woman's body is entered; and it is not necessary to
show to what extent penetration of the parts has taken
place. It has been held that entry of the labia or lips of
the female organ, merely, without rupture of the
hymen or laceration of the vagina, is sufficient to
warrant conviction of the consummated crime of rape.
The physician who examined the offended party
immediately after the commission of the crime found'
the labia and the opening of the vagina inflamed,
together with an abundance of semen, though the
hymen was intact. It also appears from the evidence
that the defendant lay on top of the child for over
fifteen minutes and continued his efforts of penetration
during that period; the child testifies that the defendant
succeeded in a partial penetration and that she felt
intense pain. In these circumstances, the crime must be
regarded as consummated.
RULING:
Judgement appealed is modified and considered as
consummated crime of rape. Penalty imposed is
increased to 17 years, 4 months, and 1 day of reclusion
temporal.