A 60-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for raping the four-year-old grandchild of his live-in partner in 2007.
Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Manuel Patalinghug found “Jun” guilty of rape by sexual assault and ordered him to pay P90,000 in moral damages.
Cebu Daily News is withholding the convict’s name to protect the identity of the child who is now 11 years old.
Jun pleaded not guilty in October 2010. He said his live-in partner was just using the child in order to end their relationship.
However, the child narrated in open court how she was abused. Her account was corroborated by her aunt, a psychiatrist and a doctor.
The child was left in the care of her grandmother and Jun in barangay San Nicolas , Cebu City when the girl’s mother was working overseas.
The mother told the court that even before she left the country, her daughter was showing unusual behavior indicating that that she had been abused.
After this, the mother’s sister took over caring for the girl when the mother went back to work abroad. That was the time when the girl opened up about her past trauma.