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PEOPLE vs Carlos Alcantara

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CARLOS L. ALCANTARA, accused-appellant.

G.R. No. 137660 | 2001-03-28

D E C I S I O N

PARDO, J.:

Defilement of a child causes trauma that not only destroys her future, it painfully mars a youth of this country.

We are faced with a crime committed by a stepfather against his wife's daughter by a prior marriage, violating the trust reposed in him and robbing an innocent child of her future.

Rosalie Gonzales was a Grade 5 student of Pangpang, Sorsogon, Sorsogon. On February 13, 1996, she testified that her stepfather, Carlos L. Alcantara, had been sexually abusing her since 1988, when she was six (6) years old.[1] The last incident occurred on November 19, 1991.

She recounted that while the rest of the...