Subic rape trial resumes
Inquirer
08/16/2006

FOLLOWING a two-week break, the court is set to resume Thursday the marathon trial of four American Marines accused of conspiring to rape a Filipino woman last November.

True to the date agreed by the prosecution and defense, Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 139 Judge Benjamin Pozon will resume the two-month-old trial on Aug. 17, with prosecution witness Dr. Rolando Ortiz II expected to be recalled to the stand.

Proceedings on the rape case had adjourned for a 16-day break on Aug.1 after the prosecution panel told Pozon that Ortiz would be unavailable for two weeks because of an undisclosed illness.

Ortiz, also a criminology professor, was the medico-legal officer who examined complainant "Nicole" at the James Gordon Memorial Hospital in Olongapo City some 33 hours after the alleged rape.

The 22-year-old alleged victim was brought there after Lance Corporal Daniel Smith allegedly raped her on board a Kia Starex van while cruising the Subic Bay Freeport, as three comrades -- Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier -- egged him on.