GR 124916; (July, 2002) (Digest)
G.R. No. 124916; July 11, 2002
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. RENE ALMANZOR y ROXAS, defendant-appellant.
FACTS
On March 11, 1994, at around 5:45 a.m., seventeen-year-old Sally Roxas was walking to her workplace at a Jollibee restaurant in Makati City. A car stopped beside her, and the driver, accused-appellant Rene Almanzor, introduced himself as a policeman from Marikina. When Sally initially refused his offer to take her to work, Almanzor poked a gun at her, forcing her into the car. He drove past her destination, ignored her pleas, and proceeded to a secluded area. Inside the moving vehicle, he ordered her at gunpoint to undress. He then stopped the car, reclined her seat, and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her. Afterward, he threatened her and made her alight from the moving vehicle.
Sally reported to work distressed and later confided in her cousin about the rape. She reported the incident to the Makati police and subsequently underwent a medico-legal examination. Based on her description, a cartographic sketch was made. On March 22, 1994, she positively identified Almanzor from a police lineup. The Regional Trial Court convicted Almanzor of Forcible Abduction with Rape and imposed the death penalty, leading to this automatic review.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly convicted the accused-appellant of the complex crime of Forcible Abduction with Rape and properly imposed the death penalty.
RULING
The Supreme Court modified the conviction. The Court held that the facts did not constitute the complex crime of Forcible Abduction with Rape. For this complex crime to exist, the abduction must have a purpose distinct from the rape itself. The evidence established that Almanzor’s sole intent from the outset was to commit rape; the taking and carrying away of the victim were merely incidental to facilitate that single criminal design. Therefore, the crime committed was simple rape, not the complex form.
Regarding the penalty, the rape was qualified by the use of a deadly weapon, a gun, which under Republic Act No. 7659 carries the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death. In the absence of any aggravating or mitigating circumstances, the proper penalty is reclusion perpetua, not death. The trial court’s award of damages was affirmed. The decision was thus modified, finding accused-appellant Rene Almanzor y Roxas guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of rape and sentencing him to reclusion perpetua.