Papilota-Diaz 69 Mendoza (2010 in www.preda.org/main/archives/2010) said that the actual number of rape cases is much higher than those reported, since many women and girls still decide not to complain to the authorities. For those who have successfully filed a complaint, most of the cases for example in RTCs in Iloilo are archived because the accused are at-large, or the prosecution and defense settled outside the court because the complainants cannot afford to further the case. Complainants who may be in school may stop attending their classes until the trials have ended. Those who are married women may beget marred reputation. Thus, it is unlikely that reported cases are fabricated since the trial proceedings are arduous, and the stigma and prejudices toward the women victims are harder to bear than the stigma credited to the accused. However in the end, the court found the complainant NM and her testimony incredible. She was noted to have offered varied versions of events, which may not be solely based on Extract 1 alone but in other parts of the proceedings (which are beyond this analysis). The prosecution was said to have failed to prove the guilt of the accused, so he was acquitted of the crime of rape. Conclusion Discourses have real effects; in this case, the intention of the lawyer to discredit the complainant’s testimony is revealed. Based on the analysis of Extract 1, NM, the rape complainant experiences secondary victimization in court through strategic questioning particularly, with DL’s phrasal self-repetitions and reformulation that could have proven NM’s lack of credibility as a witness. In a very particular way, this discourse strategy during cross examination is a method of domination and control. DL intends to offer his version of an event; and by doing this, he traps NM to accepting his version, so that she is portrayed to be a woman who fabricates her story of rape. Thus, analysis such as this affords readers awareness of the effects of discursive strategies and practices in the courtroom that may reinforce secondary victimization of the women rape complainants.