McManus v. Commonwealth

Opinion

BARROW, J.

This appeal is from convictions of rape and aggravated sexual battery of a child under the age of thirteen. It involves application of the rule permitting the admission of evidence of an out-of-court complaint by an alleged rape victim even though the victim has not testified. We hold that such a complaint is admissible even if the victim does not testify because the complaint corroborates, not the testimony of the victim, but the occurrence of the crime.

The victim’s grandmother testified over the defendant’s objection, about complaints the five-year-old victim had made to…