People vs. Sultan Case Digest

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PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. FERNANDO SULTAN y LATO, Accused-Appellant.

G.R. No. 132470

April 27, 2000

Facts:

One evening on June 2, 1997, Juditha M. Bautista, the victim, was on her way home when she was accosted

in a dark alley by the accused, Fernando Sultan, who pointed a sharp object at her neck and told her this is a hold-up.

He managed to drag her into his house and started robbing her watch, earrings, ring, necklace and her Php 130 cash.

He then started sexually abusing her; this sexual abuse happened twice in a span of less than an hour. After sexually

accosting the victim, he promised her that he would answer for everything that he had done to her and asked her to

elope with him in which the victim agreed in an effort to finally be freed. When the accused allowed her to go back

to her house to get her things for their planned elopement, she managed to ask for help from the police. The accused

was then arrested. The trial court charged him for a special complex of robbery with rape.

Issue:

Whether or not the rape that was committed twice by the accused to the victim should be considered as

aggravating circumstances.

Held:

The additional rapes that was committed by the accused should not be considered as aggravating

circumstances. The Court observed that there was no law providing for the additional rape/s or homicide/s considering

them as aggravating circumstances. Furthermore, Article 14 of the Revised Penal Code, Aggravating Circumstances,

is an exclusive list which means that unless and until a law is passed regarding the additional rape/s as an aggravating

circumstance, the Court must construe in favor of the offender. Therefore, the accused was rightfully charged with a

special complex of robbery with rape with neither mitigating nor aggravating circumstances.

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