Facts: One evening, the victim, Amelia de Leon was sleeping when she was awakened by the smell of liquor. She then saw her father, accused Edgardo de Leon, bending over her, holding a knife pointed at her. He ordered her to undress, and when Amelia tried to get up, accused hit her head with the knife’s handle. Afeared, Amelia, obeyed her father’s orders, and the latter succeeded in having sexual intercourse with her.
Issue: Whether the aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength increases the imposable penalty to death.
Held: Abuse of superior strength cannot increase the penalty to death. This means to purposely use excessive force out of proportion to the means available to the person attacked. Like the crime of parricide by a husband against his wife, abuse of superior strength is inherent in rape. It is generally accepted that under normal circumstances, a man who rapes a woman is physically stronger than the latter.
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