Next to get in trouble for sex crimes in the Philippines is a 73 year old American said to have repeatedly molested two girls back in 2001 and 2007. This one sounds a tad flimsy since it seems like a he-said-she-said situation and I'm not sure what physical evidence could still exist. But the prosecutor seem convinced there's enough evidence to pursue a charge.
I'm not sure why the accused didn't submit a counter-affidavit against the charges, which led to a summary finding to put him behind bars on a P160k bail. For him not to respond to such a serious charge may cast some light on him as a person.
The section used to charge him seems a bit vague.
RA 7610 defines child abuse as maltreatment of a minor, which includes “psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment,” and “any act by deeds or words that debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being.”
I can understand the "physical abuse" part. But psychological abuse that is "emotional maltreatment" and would "debase" the "intrinsic worth....of a child" sounds like hokey pokey language. Many of us can accuse our own parents of doing this.
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American charged for ‘abusing’ 2 minors
By Kevin A. Lagunda
Thursday, September 12, 2013
CHOCOLATES. Barbie dolls. Money.
These were allegedly promised by American national Robert Guthery, 73, to Molly (real name withheld) when he returned from the United States in 2001.
The foreigner allegedly made his promise to the girl, who was five years old that time, after he let her watch a cartoon sex video with him.
While watching the flick, he allegedly touched her privates. Molly is now 16.
“When my aunt was not around, he would lay me on their bed,” she said in her affidavit. Her aunt and the foreigner were live-in partners.
Her sister, Pinky, (real name withheld), 10, was also allegedly molested by Guthery in 2007. Pinky was also five at the time.
The girls and their mother reported the incidents last March to the Mabolo Police Station-Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD), which in turn sued the foreigner before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
Enough evidence
Assistant City Prosecutor Rogelio del Prado Jr. found enough evidence to indict Guthery with two counts of violating Republic Act (RA) 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
Bail was set at P160,000 for the accused, whose case was resolved after he failed to submit his counter-affidavit.
RA 7610 defines child abuse as maltreatment of a minor, which includes “psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment,” and “any act by deeds or words that debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being.”
In their affidavits, Molly and Pinky said they did not tell their mother about the abuse they received right away because they were afraid of Guthery.
Molly said she lived with the accused and her aunt when the two lived together as couple in 2001.
“I was molested thrice that year,” she said in Cebuano.
For her part, Pinky said she was playing with Guthery’s son when the accused let her lay down on his bed in 2007. He allegedly inserted her finger into her genitals.
Their mother, in her affidavit, said she got “very angry about what the suspect did” to her daughters.
“The act committed by the respondent clearly is detrimental to the development of the child(ren) as (they were) exposed to such lewd designs by (Guthery),” said del Prado in his resolution.