Court of Appeals (File photo)
MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of a Manila court sentencing a 64-year-old garbage collector to up to 15 years in prison for kissing a six-year-old in the mouth in 2019.
Associate Justice Ronaldo Martin of the CA Sixth Division denied the appeal of accused Cenon Villanueva and affirmed the Manila Regional Trial Court decision that found him in violation of Republic Act 7610, otherwise known as the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.
Aside from the jail sentence, the court also awarded the victim PHP150,000 in indemnity and damages.
In his defense, Villanueva claimed he accidentally kissed the victim on the forehead -- not in the mouth -- when their paths crossed along a narrow alley.
The victim was on her way home from a computer shop.
Villanueva alleged that he avoided clotheslines and had to duck, causing the accidental contact.
He claimed the parents of the victim sued him because they resented his failure to collect their garbage sometimes. He reasoned it only happens when the garbage truck was unavailable.
He also said the parents often saw him drunk.
"There is no showing that the RTC overlooked or misinterpreted some facts or circumstances of weight and substance in convicting appellant. Indeed, appellant’s defense is in the nature of a denial which hardly creates reasonable doubt of his guilt in light of his testimony that he was at the place and time of the act of lascivious conduct," the court ruled in a decision dated November 18. (PNA)
