Nicole’s US Marine friend to testify for defense

A US Marine claiming to be a friend of the 22-year-old Filipina who has accused another Marine of raping her will appear in court on Sept. 11 to testify that the alleged victim’s story "just didn’t sound right" when she first told him about it.

In his affidavit, dated Nov. 8, 2005, US Marine Justin Michael Bamberger said he was a "very close friend" of the woman known only as "Nicole" whom he met when he was assigned at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City.

Benjamin Formoso, a lawyer of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith whom Nicole has accused of rape, said Bamberger will also testify on how Nicole initially denied rumors that she was the girl who was supposedly raped inside a van on the night of Nov. 1, 2005.

Formoso provided The STAR with a copy of a handwritten sworn statement of Bamberger and a US Naval Criminal Investigation Service report.

In his affidavit, Bamberger said on the night of the alleged rape, Nicole told him that she and her sister were in a club drinking, dancing, and having a good time.

The following day, he spoke with Nicole’s mother who informed him that Nicole was asking for more money to spend in Subic, he added.

Bamberger said he and Nicole exchanged text messages wherein she told him that she was having fun shopping and even asked if he wanted anything.

"Later that day, I heard about the incident," he said in his statement to the US NCIS.

Bamberger said when he asked Nicole if she was the one being referred to as the Filipina who got raped, she answered, "No, that is a stupid rumor."

"I believed her and went about my business," he said. "That night, she called me and said ‘Hey, that rumor was true, I was the one that got raped’."

Bamberger said when he inquired further, Nicole told him that she was fine, and that "they used condoms, and that she did not know who did it."

After hearing her story, he continued asking questions "because it just didn’t sound right," and that Nicole’s story was different from what news reports were saying, he added.

In his handwritten affidavit, Bamberger quoted Nicole as referring to the Neptune Club where she drank with two friends, her sister and the accused, as a "prostitute bar."

In his NCIS report, Special Agent Brice Warshawsky summarized Bamberger’s statement with further notes that Nicole never mentioned the word "rape" when talking to him about the incident and rather used the term "had sex."

Formoso said Bamberger will be among the defense’s witnesses who will testify in favor of Smith, Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and S/Sgt. Chad Carpentier. — Michael Punongbayan