|
Monday, December 04, 2006
US Marine gets rape conviction, 3 others acquitted
MANILA (4th Update, 3:30 p.m. )- Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, a US Marine from St. Louis, Missouri was convicted Monday in a landmark rape case and sentenced to 40 years in prison, ending a long, emotional trial that has strained US-Philippines ties and tested a joint military pact.
Sun.Star Network Online's 12th Asean Summit Watch
The three other US Marines, Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier; Lance Cpl. Keith Silkwood and Lance Cpl. Dominic Duplantis and Filipino driver,Timoteo Soriano were ordered acquitted of the charge after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence that would show that they conspired with Smith in the commission of the crime.
The court also ordered the detention of Smith in the Makati City Jail, which the counsel of Smith appealed but was immediately denied by the court.
Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, Smith's counsel said under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) custody of Smith will still be at the US Embassy since the case is not yet over.
After the promulgation there was confusion in the custody of Smith, security personnel from the US Embassy tried to take Smith out of the court but policemen also grabbed Smith to an exit door where he was brought to the Makati City Jail.
Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, which governs the conduct of US troops in the Philippines, the Marines were placed under US custody during the court proceedings.
Diaz said they will also file a plea for habeas corpus before the SC because they believe that the US Embassy should have custody of Smith pending the completion and termination of the judicial proceedings.
Judge Benjamin Pozon in his decision said even if there was no direct evidence that Smith committed the crime of rape yet the prosecution provided sufficient circumstantial evidence that would show that he sexually assaulted Suzzette Nicolas, the Filipina complainant.
The court enumerated at least 14 circumstantial evidences that lead the court to be morally convinced that Smith raped Nicolas inside a van in Subic last year.
These are: “He was the one who danced last with the complainant, he was the one who brought out the complainant from the club in his back, he was the one who loaded the complainant into the van, he was the one who occupied the back seat of the van and with him is the complainant, he was the one who was on top of the complainant, who resisted his kisses, pushed him and fought him back until she lost consciousness due to the accumulated effects of the alcoholic drinks she had taken.
He admitted having had carnal knowledge on the complainant, he and Silkwood were the ones who carried outside of the van after that sexual intercourse, the complainant felt pain in her private part after she had carnal knowledge of her, the complainant realizing that she was raped tried to look for smith but failed to find him.
The complainant revealed the sexual assault on her although not immediately to the guard at Neptune Club when she tried to find for accused Smith after her violation first to her stepsister Annaliza, boyfriend Brian Goodrich, mother and the doctor who first examined her.
Her examination revealed that she suffered contusions on different parts of her arms and legs and her labia minoras, which are consistent of sexual assault or non consensual sex or rape, her vagina canal elicited unusual tenderness when and internal examination was conducted on her, her panty had seminal stains of Smith, the condom used by smith had his seminal stains and when the panty, condom and blood samples of complainant and smith were examined using DNA analysis it was found that male DNA profile on the panty, condom, blood samples matched that of Smith.”
In addition to the sentence, Smith was ordered to pay the defendant P100,000 (US$2,000) in compensatory and moral damages.
A motion of reconsideration is expected to be filed by Smith's counsel before Pozon's sala and if the appeal is denied, Smith can go to the Court of Appeals (CA) and if CA rejects it, he can go to the Supreme Court (SC).
Jubilation broke out among those outside the court, composed mostly of supporters of Nicole.
Nicole said she is saddened by the acquittal of the three other Us Marines but happy over Smith's conviction. She said they are willing to wait out the completion of the judicial proceeding like the appeal.
Nicole, in an interview over ABC-CBN News Channel (ANC), was shocked that her real name was already mentioned in media and her face was partly shown.
Smith had testified that the sex was consensual. Instead, he became the first American soldier to be convicted of wrongdoing since the Philippine Senate ordered US bases shut down in the early 1990s and joint training was established under a treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement, in 1998.
The case has stirred emotions in this former US colony and resurrected controversies linked to the US military presence in the Philippines, which has been credited with helping Filipino troops crack down on Muslim militants in the country's restive south.
Pozon said the severe penalty was aimed "to protect women against the unbridled bestiality of persons who cannot control their libidinous proclivity."
The verdict said Nicole was so intoxicated that she could not have consented to sex, pointing to testimony that Smith carried her to a van where the incident occurred.
Some cheers and applause broke out in the courtroom, and Nicole began weeping as supporters embraced her.
"We're very happy, we laud Judge Pozon for showing courage and judicial independence," the woman's lawyer, Evalyn Ursua said.
The other Marines backed up Smith's testimony, denying any wrongdoing, and were freed.
At Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said they laud the court's verdict.
"We laud the triumph of impartial justice. The court maintained an even keel despite the tremendous pressures upon the bench. We have shown the world that due process is a hallmark of Philippine democracy," said Bunye, who is also Presidential spokesman.
Bunye said they believe that the outcome of the case will not affect Philippine-US relations because the issue is not about diplomatic ties "but about universal justice and the rule of law."
About 100 protesters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting and singing "Bayan Ko" - "My Country" - a popular nationalist song. They waved a banner that read "Justice for Nicole, justice for our nation. Scrap VFA," referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement that allows foreign troops to take part in training exercises.
As a van dropped the Americans off and they were escorted by 50 helmeted riot police toward the court, members of women's group came up from behind yelling, "Convict, convict! Justice, justice!" as they raised anti-US posters.
The incident happened inside a moving van at the former U.S. Naval base at Subic Bay after a night of drinking with Smith, Nicole testified. The Marines had just finished a counterterrorism exercise.
The woman's lawyer, Ursua, had said conviction would be "a permanent blot on the record of the US servicemen in the Philippines."
"Getting a conviction is important for all of us because it will set a precedent," she said, while acquittal would make it difficult for other women to seek justice.
No other rape case involving US soldiers in the Philippines has reached court - not even during the decades until the US closed down its last base in the country in 1992.
The Alternative Law Groups Inc., an umbrella organization of 18 law firms in the country, warned in a statement that a "weak verdict ... will send a clear message to the international community that the Philippine government is further emasculating its own criminal justice system by tolerating US military troops' irreverence to the country's sovereignty."
Left-wing activists have rallied against the pact, saying it favored Washington.(AP/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (December 4, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
