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Jury begins deliberation on rape case today
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Posted on Jan 11 2000
The seven-man jury begins today the deliberation on the case filed against Jose O. Rabauliman and Hardley F. Renguul in connection with the alleged kidnapping and raping of two Chinese women almost three years ago.
Closing arguments were held yesterday with defense lawyers — Anthony Long and Jay Sorensen — claiming their clients are innocent of the crime they have been accused of.
Assistant Attorney General James Benedetto maintained that the prosecution presented enough evidence to prove that Wen Qun Li and Hong-Jin Wang were abducted and raped by the accused.
During the hearing, Mr. Long maintained that there was no rape since the two women were prostitutes. “There was discussion as to how much money would be offered to them. There was offer of money for sex,” said Mr. Long.
Ms. Li and Ms. Wang were heading toward their staff house in Garapan after having breakfast at J’s Restaurant when four men grabbed them in front of the Horiguchi building and brought them to Suicide Cliff.
In her testimony, Ms. Li positively identified Mr. Rabauliman as the one who abducted her and forced her to perform oral sex while the two men held her.
Afraid of being charged with prostitution, the two Chinese women simply made up the story about the rape case to justify their presence in the area at that time, said Mr. Sorensen. He asked members of the jury to ignore media reports, which he claimed failed to provide a complete account of the case as reporters only tend to get the facts that interests them.
In claiming that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, the defense pointed out that the women did not sustain significant cuts and bruises. But Mr. Benedetto pointed out that there fingerprint bruises found on the women based on medical reports.
The incident was discovered by a Korean national who went to Suicide Cliff for a walk along with a male companion. While heading to the crime scene, he reportedly saw a man on top of a woman and were struggling in that area.
The witness called up the Department of Public Safety using the Grotto Emergency Assistance telephone. When police officers went to the scene, they saw the victims running, one of whom was half-naked.
