A 26-year-old man is facing child abuse charges before the Regional Trial Court for allegedly having sexual intercourse with his girlfriend, who is a minor, and eventually infecting the child with a sexually transmitted disease.
The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor found sufficient evidence to hold Brilly Roman liable for the for violation of Section 5(b) of Republic Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law, which punishes any adult who, “due to his coercion or influence, has sexual intercourse with a minor as the latter is considered to be a child exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuses.”
Cebu City Prosecutor Eulogio Borres said the offense is non-bailable.
Roman, a resident of Barangay Guadalupe and a native of Davao Oriental, remains at large.
Vanessa (not her real name), Roman’s 15-year-old girlfriend, said that she met the suspect who worked as a barber in 2015. They became textmates and later on lovers.
Sometime in June 2015, Vanessa said that Roman invited her to his rented room in Barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City.
She said that she refused at first because of fear that her brother would find out.
But she eventually gave in to Roman’s insistence because of a promise he made that he would take care of her no matter what happens.
She admitted having sex with Roman then and on several occasions that followed.
On Sept. 1, 2015, Vanessa said they checked in at a lodge in downtown Cebu where they had sex again.
Four days after, she started to complain of severe stomach pains, loss of appetite, weakness in her body, and vaginal discharge with a mixture of blood.
Alarmed by her condition, Vanessa said she confessed to her brother of her sexual relations with Roman.
In his affidavit, the victim’s brother said he suspected that Vanessa was pregnant so he decided to have her checked at the Pink Room in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Clinic (VSMMC).
The attending physician told him that Vanessa had contracted a sexually transmitted disease and was given medication for its treatment.
City Prosecutor Borres said that even if the complainant-victim consented to having sex with Roman, the act of the accused was still a violation of RA 7610 because “he took advantage of complainant’s minority (minor age) to have sexual liaisons with him”.