‘Why is she doing this to me?’

Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith has broken his silence, saying that being accused of rape in a foreign land by a woman he thought was "a really nice person" has turned his life upside down.

Answering written questions, Smith said he did not know how he felt about "Nicole," the 22-year-old Filipina who claims the 21-year-old US Marine raped her inside a van in the Subic Bay freeport in Zambales while three other young American soldiers cheered him on.

"I think it’s horrible, what I’m accused of," Smith said, in a response to journalists’ questions that had been submitted through his lawyer. "My career and life in general has come to a screeching halt."

"Am I mad at her? That’s a hard question to answer because of where I am right now," Smith said when asked how he feels about Nicole and her accusations.

"I just can’t understand why she would do this to me. When I first met her, she seemed like a really nice person," he said.

"That’s why when I hear her talk on the witness stand, I can’t believe the accusations she’s making," he added, saying that if he were given a chance to talk to Nicole, the only thing he would say is: "Why?"

Smith, who hails from Missouri, has been religiously attending the hearings at the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) along with his co-accused, Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier, since the trial began on June 2.

Usually sporting a suit or a long-sleeved polo shirt, Smith sits silently, a few steps behind his lawyer, Benjamin Formoso, and several seats away from Nicole.

Nicole has already taken the witness stand, where she got the chance to curse at Smith and the other accused as she tearfully testified about how she was allegedly raped on the night of Nov. 1, 2005.

Last week, Nicole surprised Smith when she, after tripping and losing her balance while passing the seats being occupied by the accused, attacked Smith with her fists and a handbag. During her attack, Nicole was screaming and throwing punches at Smith before she again lost her balance and fell, at which point officers of the court and the lawyers of both the prosecution and the defense separated Smith and Nicole.

Smith said being accused and tried for the crime of rape has turned his life and his career in the United States Marine Corps upside down.

"I was well on my way to a promotion in the Marines. Everything I had was put on hold while I lost an entire year of my life to this," he said.

Smith said his family is "stressed beyond belief" over the case, though they are giving him all the love and support a son needs in such a situation.

"My family is as good as they can be, with their son being falsely accused in a foreign country," Smith said. "They know the truth and have faith that I will get a fair trial. But they still worry about me."

Smith said his parents said several times that they wanted to come to the Philippines to see him but he said no to them knowing that "it would be even harder for them to leave me."

He said his mother is a transplant nurse and his father is a firefighter. He has two brothers, with whom he is able to talk all the time. Smith said he and his brothers talk so they have time to "give me that little extra push to keep going."

He said his family and friends initially thought he was joking when he first told them he had been charged with rape: "They are all praying for the day that I tell them I’m cleared of all these allegations. In fact, I will be coming home to see them."

"We have always been a really close family and I can’t wait to get back and see them once all this is cleared up," Smith added.

During a chance interview in court earlier he said it would be too expensive for his parents to fly to the Philippines for the trial and that they could not afford to leave their jobs. However, he did say he calls home a lot to talk to family and friends.

Smith refused to answer questions about the case as well as his version of the events that unfolded on the night of Nov. 1, 2005, since he will also take the witness stand.

When not in court, Smith said he listens to music and swaps stories with his co-accused. He and Silkwood also attend services held by visiting pastors and "that helps us with a positive outlook on all of this," he said.

Smith said he joined the US Marines in 2004, two days after his high school graduation, to get a jump start on life and to help pay for his college education.

He said he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The US Marines had just finished counter-terrorism maneuvers with Philippine troops when the alleged rape took place.

Makati City RTC Branch 139 Judge Benjamin Pozon plans to finish the Subic rape trial by next month by holding marathon hearings four hours a day, four days a week.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), American soldiers can only be tried in a Philippine court for a one-year period which means that the trial must end and the case must be decided upon before December this year.

Monday is Day 23 of the trial, since the court did not hold hearings on June 12 to commemorate Philippine Independence Day and on July 4 because the US Embassy in Manila, where the four accused are housed, was closed for American independence day.

The court also postponed one hearing after Nicole suffered "severe traumatic stress." Nicole’s therapist, June Lopez, said the stress reaction was triggered by Nicole’s first day on the witness stand, because she had to recount memories from a severely traumatic situation. Nicole failed to appear for the continuation of her direct-examination.

Nicole’s cross-examination as the prosecution’s 20th witness ended in less than an hour Friday, after one of the defense lawyers, Patricia Formoso, grilled her over how she remembers what alcoholic drinks she consumed at the Neptune Club on the night of Nov. 1, 2005 as well as the way each and every drink was served. Nicole said then that she could not remember what time she consumed the alcoholic beverages she was served.

Nicole’s lawyer, Evalyn Ursua, defended her client by saying "selective memory" is not the same as "fragmented recall," which succeeding witnesses for the prosecution will explain to establish that Nicole’s failure to remember each and every detail of the incident and the things that happened hours before and after the alleged rape is consistent with her testimony that she was drunk.

Silkwood, Carpentier, and Duplantis’ lawyers opted not to cross-examine the Nicole, since their clients were not mentioned in Nicole’s testimony.

On the witness stand, Nicole told the court how she hates and had wanted to kill all of the accused for taking away her dignity.

The driver of the Hyundai Starex van where the alleged rape supposedly took place is expected to take the witness stand today after being subpoenaed by the court.

Timoteo Soriano Jr. is being tagged as the "missing link" who, apart from the complainant herself and the four accused, can say what really happened inside the van he was driving on the night of the alleged rape.

The prosecution said it will be presenting at least five more witnesses, including Nicole’s mother and several more expert witnesses, before they give the defense the chance to present their witnesses.

Nicole has accused Smith of raping her in the van as Duplantis, Carpentier and Silkwood allegedly cheered him on. She testified that she resisted, but was drunk and too weak to stop the assault.

Defense lawyers contend that Nicole and Smith had consensual sex. — With AP