CRIMINAL CASE - RAPE

Dear Atty.,

Greetings!

Hingi lang ako ng advice.. Ang respondent dad ko and yung complainant anak ng stepmother ko. may affidavit yung complainant to the honorable public prosecutor to dismiss the case that was july 2011. minor yung complainant. august 2012 may warrant of arrest yung dad ko. then may desistance na din nung september 2012 . oct 2012 arraignment na kada hearing hindi nagpapkita yung complainant ang advice samin ng private lawyer namin magseset sya ng 3 court trials. until now nakakulong pa din yung dad ko may nareceived na din kaming motion for dismissal. wala na rin kaming lawyer give up na daw po sya. yung evidence po ng complainant yung lola nya at saka medical certificate. eh that time hindi naman nakatira samin yung lola nya. i need advice, san ko po kaya pwedeng ilapit ito? nag uubusan lang po kasi kami ng pera na parang wala naman pong maidudulot na good news. pwede ko bang ilapit ito sa DOJ?

most of the time and entirely applicable in all cases, when court is now handling the case, it has only the jurisdiction and that it excludes the other parties (DOJ) from the case. only the court has the final say and decide the outcome of the case. the decision of Secretary of Justice would be applicable only to the time before the arraignment of the accused in which case, the accused can file a petition for review to the Secretary of Justice, in the present case, the complainant is not attending any hearing, your remedy is to ask the court for delay and further ask it for speedy disposition of the case or trial. Going to DOJ seemed futile and wastage of time. You may even ask the court to declare the plaintiff as default and may move to quash the information for delay and violation of right of the accused for speedy trial.

Under Anti-rape law of 1997, rape is now considered as a public crime. so kahit pa iniurong ng biktima ang kaso maaring ituloy ng prosecutor and laban.