Man sentenced to reclusion perpetua for marital rape

The Family Code “obligates the spouses to love one another but this rule sanctions affection and sexual intimacy, as expressions of love that are both spontaneous and mutual and that it excludes cruelty and coercion,”  Isulan, Sultan Kudarant Branch 9 Judge Renato Gleyo said as he convicted a husband for raping his wife.

In its decision made public Friday, the court convicted sentenced to reclusion perpetua (up to 40 years imprisonment) a husband who had raped his wife in 2002. He was also ordered to pay his wife a total of P150,000.

The incident happened in May, 2002 when the wife refused to have intercourse with her husband because she was not feeling well. The wife said she tried to escape but he pulled her dress. He pushed her outside and shouted to their neighbors that anyone who wants, can have sex with her. The wife said she tried to run but she stumbled and her husband caught and boxed her. She then lost consciousness. The victim said she woke up in her room with her husband raping her.

The husband denied the accusation, saying his wife charged him in court because of their failure to settle their dispute regarding their coffee plantation.

The court said the accused failed to disprove the evidence presented by the prosecution.

It added that it did not even present evidence to show that the incident did not happen.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima lauded the prosecution for securing the conviction.

“Sexual intimacy, aside from being a mechanism for procreation, is a gift that serves to bring color and life to a marital relationship . When the same is consummated without the wife’s consent through the use of force or coercion, the law provides protection to the victim,” de Lima added.

The lower court’s ruling came a year after the high court, in a landmark ruling affirmed the conviction of a husband for raping his wife.

READ:  High court rules for first time: Husbands can’t rape wives | High Court finds husband guilty of raping wife

The high court reminded that “a husband does not own his wife’s body by reason of marriage.”

“By marrying, she does not divest herself of the human right to an exclusive autonomy over her own body and thus, she can lawfully opt to give or withhold her consent to marital coitus,” it said. Tetch Torres-Tupas/IDL