SC affirms conviction of man who sent threatening, humiliating texts to partner

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the conviction of a man who sent threatening and humiliating messages to his partner.

In a 15-page decision, the SC found that the man caused his partner, AAA, emotional or psychological distress and found him guilty of violation of Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario, was promulgated in January and made public in March, as the country celebrates International Women’s Month.

“AAA testified that as a result of such text messages, she experienced mental anguish, sleepless nights for around six months, and besmirched reputation. She could no longer look her neighbors in the eyes out of fear that they were laughing at her,” the court said.

“Based on the foregoing, We agree with the finding that AAA experienced alarm or substantial emotional or psychological distress at the hands of the petitioner,” it added.

Further, the SC said that the man admitted that he sent “humiliating [and] threatening words” to AAA because he felt hurt and was often drunk when he was texting her.

The SC said that under RA 9262, the elements of violence against women through harassment are the following

• the offender has a sexual or dating relationship with the woman
• the offender commits a series of acts of harassment against the woman
• the harassment causes her alarm or substantial emotional or psychological distress.

According to the court, the man sent a series of messages to AAA, including telling her that he would burn down the belongings of her partner, threatening to humiliate her before her creditors, and saying that her husband left her because she was irresponsible and of ill-repute.

The man also entered AAA’s house with a kitchen knife and stayed until police officers arrived. Despite this, he was let go.

In another message to AAA, the man boasted that he was not handcuffed and told her that she only humiliated herself. He also later told her that he will enter in a blotter photos of them in bed wearing no clothes.

The man was found guilty by a regional trial court and the Court of Appeals, prompting him to file the present appeal with the SC.

In denying his petition, the SC also noted that the petition failed to comply with several requirements.

The High Court sentenced the man to up to eight years in prison and directed him to pay a fine of P100,000 and P3,000 as moral damages.

Aside from this, the SC directed him to undergo mandatory psychological counseling or psycyhiatric treatment, and to report compliance to the court.  — RSJ, GMA Integrated News