Healing Leads to Justice
February 18, 2022 · By Francis Bermido Jr.
Healing Leads to Justice
After almost two years, 13-year old Alyssa finally achieved justice when Judge Gemma Theresa B. Hilario-Logronio found her step-father, Alberto Morales, guilty of lascivious conduct and rape by sexual assault and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of up to 15 years in the first case and reclusion perpetua without possibility of parole, in the second case.
Allysa was sexually abused and raped by Alberto Morales in June and August 2020. She did not report or ask for help because her stepfather threatened to hurt her, her mother and younger siblings if she did. She knew her stepfather was capable of hurting them as he has beaten her in the past with a broom and bamboo stick. He has also beaten her mother but her mother was unable to do anything because she was dependent on him.
One day, Alyssa ran away from home and stayed with a neighbor who helped her report to the police and local social worker. The local social worker, knowledgeable about Preda, then referred her to the Preda Therapeutic Home for Girls. At the Preda Home for Girls, Alyssa received a warm welcome from the staff and other children and there began her road to healing and recovery.
She told her complete story to the Preda social worker and then filed a legal complaint against her stepfather. With therapy and counseling, she became empowered and courageously identified her abuser in Court and gave a straight-forward and credible testimony, which together with the result of the medico-legal examination, convinced the judge that she was telling the truth.
There are many other abused children who are unable to ask for help or report to authorities because the abusers threaten them with violence, make them believe that they are at fault or tell them that no one would ever believe them that they are being abused by their own family members. The Preda Foundation aims to break this silence, help the victims and bring the rapists and traffickers to justice.
