SC rules delay in report NOT indication of fabricated charge

Delay in reporting an incident of rape is not an indication of a fabricated charge nor does it cast doubt on the credibility of a complainant. As observed by the lower court, despite her tender years Rosanna Reyes spoke in a clear, positive and straightforward manner on the witness stand throughout her long and exhausting testimony. Also, in People vs. Baraca, we rejected for lack of factual basis the contention therein that the filing of a rape case was instigated by someone who harbored ill-feelings and a standing grudge against the accused therein. As found by the court a quo, while it is true that it took complainant a long time to report her defloration, there was a continuing threat to her life and that of her mother, and she was very young and inexperienced. It also noted that "the private complainant is frail and small, a mere wisp of a girl whose childlike innocence is written all over her. There is no sophistication about her and nothing to invite any mundane thought, except possibly from a sick man." On this score, our jurisprudential annals also reveal that no woman, especially of tender age would, concoct a story of defloration, allow an examination of her private parts, and thereafter pervert herself by being subjected to a public trial if she was not motivated solely by the desire to have the culprit apprehended and punished. [G.R. No. 122359. November 28, 1996]