Credibility of lone witness - G.R. No. 192760

G.R. No. 192760

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Credibility of Witnesses



The Court has ruled that in case of acts of lasciviousness, the lone testimony of the offended party, if credible, is sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused.10 In this case, both the trial court and the Court of Appeals found the testimony of AAA credible over Garingarao’s defense of denial and alibi. It is a settled rule that denial is a weak defense as against the positive identification by the victim.11 Both denial and alibi are inherently weak defenses and constitute self-serving negative evidence which cannot be accorded greater evidentiary weight than the positive declaration by a credible witness.12 Garingarao’s defense of denial and alibi must fail over the positive and straightforward testimony of AAA on the incident. Further, like the trial court and the Court of Appeals, we find incredible Garingarao’s defense that the case was an offshoot of a heated argument he had with AAA’s father over the manner Garingarao was giving AAA’s medications. It is hard to believe that AAA’s parents would expose her to a public trial if the charges were not true.13 In addition, the prosecution was able to establish that, contrary to Garingarao’s allegation, both BBB and CCC were not in AAA’s room at the time of the incident.

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