People v.

Luchico

Facts: Inocenia (13 y/o), a servant of the accused Teodoro Luchico, was being
pursued by the latter and kissed her on the left cheek. Inocencia ran to the
parlor to get a penknife but the accused snatched it. She went downstairs and
saw Bugnay. The two exchanged words, she told him that she wants to make a
complaint and Bugnay told her where the municipal president is. When she
went there, she saw the accused. She told the municipal president what
happened but he paid no attention to her and gave her back to the accused.
At about 7PM, upon passing by a place where the houses are somewhat distant
and upon reaching a tree, he threw her to the ground and raped her. Although
there was moonlight, the place was dark as there was a pathway shaded by
many trees. They went back to the house and Inocencia went to the house of
Isidro Luchico, the accused’s brother. On the following day, instead of going to
mass she went to the house of the ex-municipal president, Mr. Roldan, to present
her complaint as the present municipal president would not listen to her. The
lower court convicted Teodoro Luchico with the crime of rape without any
circumstances modifying his criminal liability. The prosecution opines that
nighttime and abuse of confidence should be taken into consideration
Issue: Whether or not the aggravating circumstances can be appreciated

Ruling: No. As to nighttime, crime of rape committed by the accused upon the
offended party was the result of a succession of acts which took place within
the period of two hours, commencing at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and ending
at 7 o clock in the evening, however, it wasn’t clearly proven that the accused
too advantage of such. As to abuse of confidence, she had already lost
confidence in him from the moment that he took the liberty of making an
indecent proposal to her and of offending her with a kiss, which compelled her
to arm herself with a penknife. Therefore, it cannot be said that the fact of the
accused being the offended party's master facilitated the attainment of his
lustful purpose.