Rape...?

[DocDiggs]

Four Marines charged in Philippines gang rape

Two also are cleared of assault at former U.S. military base


OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines — Philippine prosecutors charged four U.S. Marines on Tuesday with raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman in early November but cleared two other soldiers who had also been accused.

Washington has not responded publicly to an earlier request by the Philippine foreign affairs department to transfer custody of the Marines to local authorities.

A statement by the U.S. embassy, which has been holding the soldiers, made no mention of custody but said the United States would continue to cooperate with the Philippines on the case under the two countries’ Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

“The U.S. remains committed to seeing that justice is served, and looks forward to a fair and impartial process that can provide for a just outcome,” the statement said.

“We are happy the girl is going to get some kind of justice,” said Katrina Legarda, a lawyer for the complainant.

In affidavits, five of the Marines had disputed allegations that the woman was gang-raped in a van at a former U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay, suggesting there was consensual sex.

The sixth soldier, who had also taken part in two-week military exercises with Philippine troops in October, did not submit an affidavit.

The van driver, a Filipino initially considered a witness, was charged as an accomplice, according to prosecution documents filed with a court in Olongapo City, northwest of Manila.

“I was convinced there was a conspiracy among the accused,” the city’s chief prosecutor, Prudencio Jalandoni, told reporters.

In the charge sheet, Jalandoni said evidence suggested the two cleared soldiers were not in the van at the time of the alleged rape.

He said that once arrest warrants were issued, the four U.S. Marines and the Filipino driver would be placed in one detention facility, subject to the provisions of the VFA.

One-year limit
Recommending no bail be set for the accused, Jalandoni said he was “confident the case will be resolved before the end of the one-year period” stipulated in the VFA for the handling of criminal charges against U.S. soldiers.

The court was expected to select a judge on Jan. 3 to hear the case but no trial date has been set.

The woman who filed the complaint and the six soldiers — all from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit stationed in Okinawa, Japan — did not attend three hearings held since late November.

Relations between Manila and Washington deteriorated in the 1990s when Philippine senators ended a treaty allowing U.S. forces to keep naval and air bases that had been used as staging points during the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War.

The bonds were repaired in 1999, when a more friendly Philippine Senate agreed to the VFA, which permits U.S. troops to join military exercises and train local units that are battling communist and Muslim insurgencies.




URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10615833/

[conlor]

If they did this, and I hope they get a fair trial, then they deserve to be punished by the laws of the country they commited the crime in. Rape isn't right anywhere.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by conlor

If they did this, and I hope they get a fair trial, then they deserve to be punished by the laws of the country they commited the crime in. Rape isn't right anywhere.

I agree, Connie.

A lot of stupidity spread around here though.

She was stupid to get into a van with 6 strange men.

Men having sex one after the other with the same woman are stupid - have they never heard of STD's?

[BrianK]

Originally Posted by Woodmonkey

I agree, Connie.

A lot of stupidity spread around here though.

She was stupid to get into a van with 6 strange men.

Men having sex one after the other with the same woman are stupid - have they never heard of STD's?

The point of 6 men and one woman in a van is a good one. Then there is the Filipino driver. Two of the men were not in the van at the time of the alleged rape leaving 4 & the driver.

The article didn't mention whether or not sex was unprotected or extremely sloppy. Prior to marriage I've never been so drunk or horney as to want to have sloppy seconds let alone fourth or fifths.

Remains to be known if the woman was raped or not so making a judgement from only the small amount of info isn't right. This is where I have suspicions though because making a living as a prostitute in the Phillipines isn't new. Getting paid over and above the act by filing a lawsuit might be though.

[conlor]

You might have a point there, Brian. Maybe they didn't pay her enough or stiffed her....um...I mean, didn't pay her at all.

[SherryGrace]

OLONGAPO, Philippines - Four US Marines and a Filipino driver were charged Tuesday with raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman, prosecutors said, in a case that has reopened old wounds in the former US colony.

After a lengthy preliminary investigation, prosecutors concluded that the five men, accused of assaulting the woman in a van on November 1 in the former US Naval base of Subic Bay north of Manila, had conspired to commit rape.

But two other Marines initially named as suspects were cleared after evidence indicated that they were not in the van during the alleged incident, prosecutors said.

"We expect the warrants of arrest to be issued as early as next week," prosecutor Raymond Viray told AFP.

"The case is strong. There is evidence. Conviction hinges on the credibility of the victim, and we are banking on that.

"They took advantage of the victim's intoxication, who they later abused using superior strength."

Copies of the resolution filed by prosecutors said the woman first met the Marines at a Subic Bay nightclub.

Later, she "was forced outside of the club and brought onboard a vehicle where she was kissed, caressed on sensitive parts of her body, undressed and raped," the resolution said.

"She resisted and shouted for help as the other occupants of the van cheered on," prosecutors said in their report.

The Filipino driver of the van was named as a suspect after he recanted his earlier statement supporting the victim's claim that she was raped.

Viray said only one of the four Marines charged had sexually assaulted the woman, but that the other three and the driver provided "moral assistance" in committing the crime.

"Under our criminal law, there can be gang rape in the sense that others were together, encouraging or cooperating with the rape itself. And that is considered rape by all of them," said the woman's lawyer Katrina Legarda.

"Everyone (is) a principal (suspect) because there was inducement or cooperation if not participation," she said.

Legarda said the woman's legal team was also considering a motion for reconsideration to have the two other Marines charged as well because other accounts suggested they were in the van at the time of the alleged assault.

In their resolution, the prosecutors conceded they had "difficulty" in filing the case, noting: "This is caused primarily by complainant’s failure to properly identify the respondents in her sworn statement."

The suspects denied the woman's accusations in their affidavits, saying the woman had consensual sex with one of the soldiers, identified as Daniel Smith. But Legarda rejected that claim.

"The medico-legal findings show too many bruises for there to be consensual sex," she said.

The US troops were part of a contingent that took part in joint military exercises with their Filipino counterparts in Subic Bay, a former US naval base shut down in 1992.

The case has drawn widespread media attention in this former US colony, and human rights advocates say it has opened up old wounds caused by past abuses.

It is also seen as a litmus test for the visiting forces agreement, a treaty that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution to US soldiers taking part in manoeuvres here.

The US embassy in Manila had invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects, but said diplomats would turn the Marines over to authorities if the four were formally charged.

Rape in the Philippines is punishable by life imprisonment or death if there were aggravating circumstances.

Viray said the foreign department would coordinate with the US embassy once the arrest warrants were issued. - AFP/ir

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...185503/1/.html

This report says she was drunk and taken advantage of during that state. It says she was forced outside the club and into the van, where she was overpowered by one of the Marines, while the others cheered him on. And apparently the medical exam (?) shows too many bruises to call it consensual.

Notice they also state that the case is strong...and that it hinges on her credibility. I'd say that means she's probably not a prostitute and is a solid enough citizen.

Also note the penalty for rape....life imprisonment or death if the assault included aggravating circumstances. Sounds like this man (hell ALL of them) better figure out how to be declared innocent...or kiss their freedom (or life) goodbye.

[MR Nasty]

This is truly a sad state of affairs. It is especially sad when the actions of a few bad apples can dictate our nation's foreign policy, ie Abu Grahib, Okinawa and so forth. May justice be served. If they are innocent then let them go but if they are guilty then have whatever the law says.