G.R. No. 38125. October 28, 1933
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. AURELIO S. DEL PRADO (ALIAS MCCARTHY), DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.
Decisions / Signed Resolutions October 28, 1933 BUTTE, J.:
BUTTE, J.:
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of
Zamboanga, convicting the appellant of the crime of rape with grave
physical injury and sentencing him to suffer twenty years of reclusion temporal.
On this appeal only one error is assigned, namely, that the prosecution
failed to prove that the crime was committed in the territory embraced
with the court’s jurisdiction. There is no merit in this contention.
Apart from the fact that there is direct testimony that the barrio of
Calarian is in the municipality of Zamboanga (page 13 of the
transcript), there is no question that the court may take judicial
notice that said barrio is within the geographical limits of the
municipality of Zamboanga. (Cf. People vs. Samonte, G. R. No. 36559, promulgated July 26, 1932.)[1]
[1] 157 Phil., 968.
Zamboanga, convicting the appellant of the crime of rape with grave
physical injury and sentencing him to suffer twenty years of reclusion temporal.
On this appeal only one error is assigned, namely, that the prosecution
failed to prove that the crime was committed in the territory embraced
with the court’s jurisdiction. There is no merit in this contention.
Apart from the fact that there is direct testimony that the barrio of
Calarian is in the municipality of Zamboanga (page 13 of the
transcript), there is no question that the court may take judicial
notice that said barrio is within the geographical limits of the
municipality of Zamboanga. (Cf. People vs. Samonte, G. R. No. 36559, promulgated July 26, 1932.)[1]
In criminal cases, this court does not confine its review to the errors
assigned. We have therefore carefully examined the entire record in
this case in view of the heinousness of the offense and gravity of the
sentence. There are some details in the story told by the offended girl
which seem to us incredible and cast a doubt upon her veracity. But
there is other and independent corroboratory evidence as to the
essentials of the crime, the corpus delicti, properly so called, which points to the guilt of the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
The judgment appealed from is affirmed with costs de oficio.
Street, Abad Santos, Vickers, and Imperial, JJ., concur.
[1] 157 Phil., 968.