Victim’s stepsister claims SBMA official intervened
Subic rape case
Victim’s stepsister claims SBMA official intervened
By Jefferson Antiporda, Manila Times
THE stepsister of the 22-year-old Filipino woman who accused four American Marines of rape claimed an official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority had offered to settle the case.
In her continuing testimony, Ana Liza Franco said a certain Ben Natividad had separately talked to her and her stepsister, the complainant identified only as Nicole, and made the offer by saying, “Magpa-areglo na lang kayo [let’s just have this settled],” while they were undergoing investigation at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority intelligence and investigation office on November 2.
Franco said she and Nicole rejected Natividad’s proposal.
Although Franco did not categorically say so, a man of the same name served as executive assistant to SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga.
She also said that during the investigation, Timoteo Soriano at first denied Nicole was the same girl the four servicemen had with them in the Starex van he drove in the evening of November 1.
“I approached him [Soriano] and said, ‘I hope this will not happen to your children,’” Franco told the court. After that, she added, Soriano admitted that it was indeed Nicole who was with the servicemen. She said Soriano also promised to help them pursue the case.
Nicole, in her complaint, claimed that on November 1, L/Cpl. Daniel Smith sexually assaulted her while the van was being driven around SBMA by Soriano. She said Smith was with three other Americans at the time.
In an interview after the hearing, Evalyn Ursua, the prosecution lawyer who conducted the direct examination, said Nicole’s rejection of the offer only proved that she and her family wanted justice.
“The testimony of Franco is a proof that the victim and her family is not after the money as rumors have it,” Ursua said. “It showed that they are not interested in any kind of settlement and they wanted justice.”
When his turn at cross-examination came, Jose Justiniano, counsel for Keith Silkwood, one of the three servicemen accused as co-conspirators, asked Franco how long she and Nicole consumed their drinks before the alleged rape took place.
Franco said they had 10 to 15 minutes intervals between drinks, to which the lawyer suggested that the complainant, at that pace, could have stayed sober. As to the claim Franco made in a previous testimony that she and Nicole started feeling dizzy from too much alcohol, the lawyer said she should have stopped Christopher Mills, their host, from buying more drinks.
“I find it unusual that two persons who were already drunk did not even ask their companion to stop ordering drinks or requested that they be brought home,” Justiniano added.
At this point, Judge Benjamin Pozon adjourned the hearing and ordered that the cross-examination continue on Tuesday.
Victim’s stepsister claims SBMA official intervened
By Jefferson Antiporda, Manila Times
THE stepsister of the 22-year-old Filipino woman who accused four American Marines of rape claimed an official of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority had offered to settle the case.
In her continuing testimony, Ana Liza Franco said a certain Ben Natividad had separately talked to her and her stepsister, the complainant identified only as Nicole, and made the offer by saying, “Magpa-areglo na lang kayo [let’s just have this settled],” while they were undergoing investigation at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority intelligence and investigation office on November 2.
Franco said she and Nicole rejected Natividad’s proposal.
Although Franco did not categorically say so, a man of the same name served as executive assistant to SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga.
She also said that during the investigation, Timoteo Soriano at first denied Nicole was the same girl the four servicemen had with them in the Starex van he drove in the evening of November 1.
“I approached him [Soriano] and said, ‘I hope this will not happen to your children,’” Franco told the court. After that, she added, Soriano admitted that it was indeed Nicole who was with the servicemen. She said Soriano also promised to help them pursue the case.
Nicole, in her complaint, claimed that on November 1, L/Cpl. Daniel Smith sexually assaulted her while the van was being driven around SBMA by Soriano. She said Smith was with three other Americans at the time.
In an interview after the hearing, Evalyn Ursua, the prosecution lawyer who conducted the direct examination, said Nicole’s rejection of the offer only proved that she and her family wanted justice.
“The testimony of Franco is a proof that the victim and her family is not after the money as rumors have it,” Ursua said. “It showed that they are not interested in any kind of settlement and they wanted justice.”
When his turn at cross-examination came, Jose Justiniano, counsel for Keith Silkwood, one of the three servicemen accused as co-conspirators, asked Franco how long she and Nicole consumed their drinks before the alleged rape took place.
Franco said they had 10 to 15 minutes intervals between drinks, to which the lawyer suggested that the complainant, at that pace, could have stayed sober. As to the claim Franco made in a previous testimony that she and Nicole started feeling dizzy from too much alcohol, the lawyer said she should have stopped Christopher Mills, their host, from buying more drinks.
“I find it unusual that two persons who were already drunk did not even ask their companion to stop ordering drinks or requested that they be brought home,” Justiniano added.
At this point, Judge Benjamin Pozon adjourned the hearing and ordered that the cross-examination continue on Tuesday.
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