All the above, as established during trial, lead to no other conclusion than the commission of the
crime as prescribed in the law.
It matters not that no other eyewitness corroborated AAA's testimony of the actual incidents. The
testimony of the complainant as a lone witness to the actual perpetration of the act, as long as it is
credible, suffices to establish the guilt of the accused because evidence is weighed and not
counted.26 If, in criminal cases of rape27 or homicide,28 the positive, categorical and credible testimony
of a lone witness is deemed enough to support a conviction, then, in the case at bar, involving a
case of violation of Section 5(i) of RA No. 9262, this Court shall treat in the same manner the
testimony of a single but credible witness for the prosecution. Especially if the testimony bears the
earmarks of truth and sincerity and was delivered spontaneously, naturally and in a straightforward
manner, corroborative testimony is not needed to support a conviction.29
It bears emphasis that Section 5(i) penalizes some forms of psychological violence that are inflicted
on victims who are women and children. Other forms of psychological violence, as well as physical,
sexual and economic violence, are addressed and penalized in other sub-parts of Section 5.
The law defines psychological violence as follows:
Section 3(a)
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C. "Psychological violence" refers to acts or omissions causing or likely to cause mental or emotional
suffering of the victim such as but not limited to intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to
property, public ridicule or humiliation, repeated verbal abuse and mental infidelity. It includes
causing or allowing the victim to witness the physical, sexual or psychological abuse of a member of
the family to which the victim belongs, or to witness pornography in any form or to witness abusive
injury to pets or to unlawful or unwanted deprivation of the right to custody and/or visitation of
common children.
Psychological violence is an element of violation of Section 5(i) just like the mental or emotional
anguish caused on the victim. Psychological violence is the means employed by the perpetrator,
while mental or emotional anguish is the effect caused to or the damage sustained by the offended
party. To establish psychological violence as an element of the crime, it is necessary to show proof
of commission of any of the acts enumerated in Section 5(i) or similar such acts. And to establish
mental or emotional anguish, it is necessary to present the testimony of the victim as such
experiences are personal to this party.30 All of this was complied with in the case at bar. In the face of
the strong and credible testimony of AAA, petitioner Dinamling relies on a defense of denial and
alibi. On the nights of March 14 and 20, 2007, he claimed that he was on duty at XXX Police
Station.31 He denied seeing AAA on those dates.32 However, on cross examination, he admitted that it
takes only two to three minutes to go from the police station to AAA's boarding house.33
Denial and alibi, as defenses of an accused in a criminal case, have been consistently held as
inherently weak34 and which, unless supported by clear and convincing evidence, cannot prevail over
the positive declarations of the victim.35 In general, a plea of denial and alibi is not given much weight
relative to the affirmative testimony of the offended party.36 The only exception to this rule is where
there is no effective identification, or where the identification of the accused has been fatally tainted
by irregularity and attendant inconsistencies.37
In the case at bar, nothing in Dinamling's defense overcomes the clear, straightforward, unequivocal
and positive declarations of AAA. For one, the positive identification of Dinamling as the perpetrator