Nicole drops charges vs judge, driver

Subic rape victim "Nicole" is no longer interested in pursuing a case against the driver of the Hyundai Starex van, where she was sexually abused by a US Marine.

In a two-page manifestation, she informed the Court of Appeals (CA) Special 5th Division yesterday that she was withdrawing a petition for certiorari filed against Olongapo City Judge Renato Dilag in connection with the latter’s decision to discharge Timoteo Soriano Jr. from the list of respondents.

Nicole, through her lawyer, Evalyn Ursua, said she was no longer interested in filing charges against Soriano because that would mean going through another trial.

Dilag, in December 2005, cleared Soriano as a respondent in the rape case against Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood, Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier of the US Marine Corps.

Nicole’s camp questioned Dilag’s decision before the CA, which gave Soriano a reason not to testify for her before the sala of Makati City Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon.

Smith, 21, was eventually convicted for rape and sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment while his three fellow US soldiers were acquitted.

Soriano was tagged as the "missing link" whose testimony could have resulted in the conviction or acquittal of all four US soldiers.

Now that Smith has been found guilty and is detained at the US Embassy while his case is on appeal, Nicole’s camp believes it would be better to focus on the main case.

"Petitioner would not want to go through another round of criminal trial against the private respondent after her exhausting experience with the trial against the four US Marines," Ursua told the CA.

Nicole, 23, has not been seen since Smith’s controversial transfer to the US Embassy from the Makati City jail weeks after he was convicted.

Sources said she is now trying to live a normal life, hoping to forget her experience of having to go through a full-blown rape trial after she was sexually abused on the night of Nov. 1, 2005 inside a moving vehicle at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Smith is now trying to convince the CA to reverse the lower court’s decision finding him guilty of rape while the other respondents left the country minutes after being acquitted.