It is enough that the intimidation produces a fear that if the victim does not yield to the bestial demands of the accused, something would happen to her at the moment, or even thereafter, as when she is threatened with death if she should report the incident. At any rate, there is no law holding that non-flight is conclusive proof of innocence, especially when weighed against the definite and positive identification of the accused as the rapist. A clarificatory hearing was held on 3 September 1993 to verify the true and correct date when the alleged crime was committed. Thus, the Resolution of the Inquest Judge contained the true date and truthful recollection of the events, which was adopted by the investigator, as shown in the ensuing Information. Neither are we persuaded by the claim that it was impossible for Crispina, a mother of four, not to notice the obvious signs of pregnancy well on its third trimester.
First pregnancies are generally smaller than later ones.
It has been held that no mother would stoop so low as to subject her own daughter to the hardships and shame concomitant to a prosecution for rape just to assuage her own hurt feelings. Certainly, a mother would not sacrifice her daughter s honor to satisfy a grudge, knowing fully well that such an experience would certainly damage her daughter s psyche and mar her for life. Neither would she subject her daughter to a public trial with its accompanying stigma on her as a victim of rape, if said charge is not true. The trial court imposed the penalty of reclusion perpetua without discussing how it arrived at that conclusion. The trial court, therefore, correctly imposed the penalty of reclusion perpetua .