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PEOPLE vs Samson Bartolome Y Espiritu

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. SAMSON BARTOLOME Y ESPIRITU, accused-appellant.

G.R. No. 138365 | 2002-04-16

D E C I S I O N

VITUG, J.:

The Court must here again make a painstaking effort to assess the conflicting testimony of a rape victim and that of her alleged tormentor to satisfy the judicial conscience that the horrendous crime has indeed been committed and that the State can thereby lawfully forfeit the offender's right to live or to be free.

Samson Bartolome was indicted for rape before the Regional Trial Court ("RTC"), Branch 43, of Virac, Catanduanes, in an Information that read:

"That on or about 1:00 o'clock in the early morning of November 26, 1994 at sitio Nagpuroc, San Isidro, Pandan, Catanduanes, Philippines, and within the...