SC acquits woman who killed husband after 11 years of being abused

MANILA, Philippines — A woman chose prison over an abusive home — after 11 years of enduring escalating physical and psychological abuse from her husband, a police officer.

Court records showed she was beaten about four times a week, starting after she caught him in bed with another woman. When she threatened to leave, he choked her and pointed a firearm at her. Fearing retaliation and mistrusting the authorities, she chose silence.

However, the violence continued. When she attempted to ask for help from neighbors, he threatened to kill her. She still chose to stay silent.

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READ: More women call 911 to report, get help on VAWC-related cases – DILG

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In February 2011, the husband shouted at his children. When he saw her, he started throwing objects around and picked up their two-year-old son and threw him on a chair. The wife then picked up a ladle and struck him on the head. 

Then she started packing her clothes, but her husband caught her and told her she and her children would not get out of the house alive. She said he started beating her until her head slammed against a wall. When she woke up, she said she was already at the police station.

Meanwhile, her sister-in-law, who lived next door, testified that after hearing several gunshots, she went to the couple’s house. When the door opened, the wife was holding a gun and told her, “Mas gugustuhin ko na lang makulong (I would rather be imprisoned).”

She was convicted of parricide by a regional trial court, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Both courts ruled that the wife failed to provide evidence demonstrating the concurrence of the three phases of the cycle of violence to support her claim of multiple instances of abuse.

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But the Supreme Court, in a ruling by its second division made public Thursday, acquitted the wife, stating that she was suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome at the time of the incident and is therefore exempt from both criminal and civil liability.

The ruling, penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, stated that under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9262), victims who survived and were found by courts to be suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome would not incur criminal or civil liability, even in the absence of traditional elements of self-defense.

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Defense testimonies and medical records revealed a long-standing pattern of violence, including an instance where the accused suffered hematoma and lacerations after confronting her husband. According to trial records, her husband was a police officer who repeatedly physically assaulted her, threatened her life, and restricted her from leaving. 

During expert testimony, medical expert Dr. Ethel Maureen Pagaddu explained the accused’s psychiatric state, stating, “Based on the narration of the patient, there was this thing: If the husband survived, she and her children would die. It is self-defense to save, which was the very reason why she remained in the chaotic relationship that she had with the late husband.”

Addressing the Court of Appeals’ earlier rejection of the defense due to a lack of collateral evidence, such as police blotters or corroborating witness accounts, the Supreme Court emphasized that victims of domestic violence face systemic barriers to seeking formal help. 

“A woman trapped in an abusive relationship cannot be expected to report every beating to the authorities or recount every traumatic memory in open court. Stigma, distrust of authorities, humiliation, and cultural pressures are some reasons that deter women from seeking help and push them to remain silent. Moreover, prolonged domestic abuse can cause victims to withdraw or dissociate, leading to silence or even gaps in memory. This is how trauma operates. Courts must be careful not to demand an impossible standard of proof that is blind to the realities of abuse,” the SC said.

READ: Study: 7.2% of Filipino women suffer abuse from partners

The SC said the defense successfully established that the accused underwent at least two full cycles of violence, which fundamentally altered her state of mind and induced a state of learned helplessness. 

Citing international commitments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the SC highlighted that evidentiary rules must not be constrained by unrealistic expectations regarding victim responses.

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Following the decision, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of the accused from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, provided she is not being detained for any other lawful cause. /atm