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Saturday, February 15, 2003
MTCC judge acquits McNeely; case of seduction dismissed
By Karlon N. Rama
QUESTIONING the alleged victim’s “good reputation,” the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) yesterday freed controversial American Perry McNeely from a seduction charge.
MTCC Judge Mamerto Coliflores dismissed the charge filed in November 2001, saying that while the prosecution was able to show evidence that McNeely had sexual relations with the girl through deceit, the girl was “not of good reputation.”
No seduction
“If a woman, over 12 but under 18 years of age, agrees to a sexual intercourse with a man who promised her some material things and the man never fulfills these, there is no seduction because the woman proved to be a woman of loose morals. She is considered a high-class prostitute,” he ruled.
In her complaint, Rosa (real name withheld) claimed that McNeely, sometime in July 1997, seduced her into being her sex slave of sorts and that he, at one point, had sex with her friend in full view of her sister.
She said she and McNeely met that month through another lady friend married to one of McNeely’s American buddies, and that she let the incident happen because McNeely promised to marry her.
Upon presentation to the court, McNeely and his witnesses, however, showed that Rosa actually worked as a guest relations officer of the Gloria Karaoke Bar before she and McNeely met.
She had also lived with an Australian boyfriend named Yanni and that she also had a Filipino boyfriend.
For his part, McNeely denied having had a sexual relationship with Rosa although he admitted that he paid for her apartment and her studies.
He maintained that Rosa was only coerced into filing the complaint against him because another American paid her P25,000 to do so.
Decision
In his decision, Coliflores said the fact of whether or not McNeely and Rosa, who was only 18 when the complaint was filed, were carrying out a sexual relationship, is not important in a seduction case.
He maintained that for the seduction case to prosper, the complainant, under the law, “must be of good reputation, single or widow.”
He said the testimonies presented “leads the court to conclude that the complainant is not of good reputation, especially so that she had illicit relations with a number of men.”
He also maintained that the sexual relationship between Rosa and the American arose from “mutual desire” and, thus, “there is no seduction.”
(February 15, 2003 issue)
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