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The Subic rape case, officially known as ''People of the Philippines vs. Chad Carpentier, Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood, and Daniel Smith'', was a criminal case in the Philippines involving a Filipina and four United States Marines. It caught wide media coverage and achieved political and international significance because of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines, which had been the subject of protests from the beginning. Initially, the accuser, Suzette Nicolas, alleged that she was gang-raped but after a few days, she then said that only Lance Corporal Daniel Smith raped her. She said that just before midnight of November 1, 2005, Smith raped her inside a moving Hyundai Starex van at Alava Pier in the Subic Bay Freeport where the Marines' ship was docked. Nicolas also alleged that Smith's other companions, Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, were inside the van cheering Smith on as it happened. Smith countered the charges saying that what occurred between him and Nicolas was consensual sex. On December 4, 2006, after numerous court hearings over the course of a year that were open to the public and the media, Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 139 found Smith guilty of rape, sentencing him to ''reclusión perpetua'', a sentence of 40 years, while the three others were acquitted.〔 〕 Smith was confined in the United States Embassy in Manila, despite the judge's order that he be confined in a Philippine jail, and despite protests from Suzette's camp. On April 23, 2009, the Court of Appeals headed by three Filipino female Justices, Associate Justices Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa, Remedios Salazar-Fernando and Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal, reversed the decision of the lower court and ordered Smith's immediate release, stating that "...a careful and judicious perusal of the evidence on record does not convince the prudent mind about the moral certainty of the guilt of the accused, hence we must acquit."〔.〕〔〔〔〔〔 ==Background== Nicolas, who grew up in the Southern Command in Zamboanga City, was invited to Subic Bay by a friend, US Navy Petty Officer Christopher Mills, together with her stepsister, Anna Liza. Mills was a family friend whom they met in Zamboanga, where joint US-Philippine military exercises had been held over the years. Nicolas's family operated a canteen which was frequented by soldiers. Nicolas, a management accounting graduate, managed the said canteen and in the process befriended military personnel, including Mills and her boyfriend, Brian Goodrich of the 12th Marines Operations Platoon which is based in Okinawa. Upon the invitation of Mills, and with Goodrich's knowledge, Nicolas and Anna Liza flew to Manila and then travelled to Subic Bay. On the night of November 1, 2005, after eating pizza for dinner, Mills invited the ladies to the Neptune Bar for drinks. Mills later left the bar, leaving Nicolas and Anna Liza behind in the company of other Marines, dancing and having more drinks. Forty-five minutes later, Mills returned and found only Anna Liza who had been looking for the missing Nicolas. The two then started a search for her. Around this time, Nicolas had been found at the Alavar Pier. She was found extremely drunk and crying with her jeans worn inside out and a condom sticking out of her underwear. Several witnesses surfaced, from the security guard of the bar who saw Smith carrying a drunk Nicolas to the van to several other people who saw the Marines dumping Nicolas at the pier and including the driver of the van rented by the Marines. At first, the driver, Timoteo Soriano, Jr., accused the Marines of raping Nicolas. Later, he retracted his statement saying he was forced by police to sign the affidavit accusing the Marines. When the Marines were questioned, they denied the charges. Smith claimed that he and Nicolas had had consensual sex. Two other accused Marines were released from custody after they were able to prove they were buying pizza at the time of the incident and were not in the van. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Subic rape case」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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