US marine denies rape in Philippine rape case

MANILA: A US Marine told a court in the Philippines on Monday, in a highly charged trial which has cast a new shadow over often prickly Philippines-US relations, that he did not rape a Filipino woman.

Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, 21, told the court that he and a 22-year-old Filipina had consensual sex after they met at a local bar in the former US naval base of Subic Bay north of Manila.

"I did not rape anybody, sir," Smith, from St. Louis, Missouri, testified.

Smith and three other Marines are accused of raping the woman, identified only as Nicole, at the former base last November.

The other defendants in the case are Lance Corporals Dominic Duplantis and Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier.

The case has stoked bitter anti-US sentiment in this former American colony and sparked street protests.

It is also seen as a litmus test for the Visiting Forces Agreement that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution to US soldiers taking part in maneuvers in the country.

Under the terms of the agreement, US military defendants can be held in custody by the US Embassy in Manila but tried in a civilian Philippine court where the judge can decide whether to open proceeding to the media or public.

The US embassy invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects in this case to the Philippine authorities.

Smith told the court how the woman sat on his lap and asked if she could kiss him.