Wednesday, June 21, 2006
US sailor says woman crying, in pain after 'rape'
MANILA -- An American sailor testified Tuesday that a Filipino woman was crying and complaining of pain hours after she was allegedly raped by a US Marine last November.
Petty Officer Christopher Mills, a friend of the woman identified as Nicole, said he saw her at a hospital hours after the alleged rape "sitting in a chair with her head down, in tears, and she said she was in a lot of pain in her vaginal area."
He said that when she was asked the cause of her pain, she replied that she "could not understand and know what had happened."
Prosecutors allege Lance Corporal Daniel Smith raped the 22-year-old woman in a van, while Lance Corporal Keith Silkwood, Lance Corporal Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier cheered him on. Prosecutors say she was drunk at the time.
The Marines had just finished counter-terrorism maneuvers with Philippine troops when the alleged rape took place at the former US Naval Base in Subic Bay, near Olongapo City, west of Manila.
Mills said he had invited Nicole and her sister Anna, both residents of southern Zamboanga city, to visit Subic Bay.
He said on the night of the alleged rape, they went to a casino and a bar in Subic Bay, where he ordered drinks for the women. After several drinks, Anna asked him to stop buying Nicole alcohol "since she was already feeling intoxicated," Mills said.
"I feel so sad and so guilty about the predicament of my friends," he testified.
Also Tuesday, Bruce Robert Warshalsky, a US Navy investigator, testified that Lance Corporal Justin Michael Bamberger, another friend of Nicole's, reported receiving a phone text message from her after the alleged rape saying "I had sex with him and he used a condom."
Warshalsky also said Carpentier reported seeing Nicole sitting on Smith's lap and the two kissing at the bar.
Last Wednesday, US Navy investigator Guy Papageorge testified that Smith had "admitted he had sexual intercourse with the Filipino woman inside the van and that the other Marines cheered him on."
Papageorge said when he asked Smith if the sex was consensual, Smith answered, "Yes, it was consensual."
The trial has stirred strong emotions in the former American colony, with a handful of anti-US protesters regularly shouting slogans and carrying signs outside the court. (AP)
(June 21, 2006 issue)
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