Demapan found not guilty

A Superior Court jury found Bradley Demapan not guilty yesterday of charges that he raped a female tourist in the bushes north of the Pacific Islands Club in San Antonio.
The six jurors, including a retired police officer, reached a unanimous verdict finding Demapan not guilty of sexual assault in the first degree.

The 26-year-old Demapan burst into tears, exclaimed “Thank you Lord!”, clenched his fists in the air, and then tightly hugged his lawyer, Stephen Pixley, after hearing the court staff read the verdict at 4:30pm.

The jurors began their deliberations Wednesday afternoon and resumed yesterday morning.

Demapan’s parents and family members were all in tears. Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), brother of the defendant, joined the family in the courtroom.

Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho, who decided on the misdemeanor charges, also found Demapan not guilty of assault and battery. On Wednesday, Camacho acquitted Demapan of disturbing the peace.

Demapan cried again, clenched his fists in the air, and hugged Pixley, after hearing Camacho’s decision.

Demapan, who was still crying uncontrollably, told reporters outside the courtroom after the hearing that everything that happened was consensual.

“I did not lie. I just told the truth. Thank you God,” said Demapan.

Pixley said they’re very happy with the verdict in this “very emotional case.”

“It’s a tough case. Very difficult,” Pixley said.

Assistant attorney general Barbara Cepeda, who prosecuted the case, referred reporters to their public information officer for comment.

In acquitting Demapan of assault and battery, Camacho said he found the defendant’s three statements consistent and credible, in contrast to the testimony of the alleged victim and her female companion.

Camacho said that based on the testimonies of the defendant and others, the alleged victim was awake and aware during sexual intercourse.

He said that when people came upon Demapan and the woman, she shielded her face and her naked body using her hands. At no time did she scream, cry out, or express that the sex was non-consensual to her friend or the tour guide, Camacho added.

He gave credit to the testimony of a PIC security guard who approached the location of Demapan and the alleged victim, and heard sexual “moaning sounds.”

Camacho said that, based on the testimonies of all the witnesses, including the alleged victim and her friend, the two along with Demapan and another male PIC employee agreed to meet at 10:30pm on July 25, 2013.

At the meeting place at PIC, the four drank alcoholic beverages, exchanged dirty jokes, sang, and danced. At some point, the friend of the alleged victim went to the restroom, accompanied by Demapan’s co-worker.

Demapan’s co-worker was alerted by a security guard that his wife was in the lobby so he hid in the tall grass, afraid that he will be caught partying with “two hot chicks.” The PIC worker then went home.

When the alleged victim’s companion went out of the restroom, she panicked, thinking that the two men took her friend somewhere. Unknown to her, her companion and Demapan decided to take a romantic stroll on the beach and proceeded to have sex in a secluded area.

The alleged victim’s companion, a tour guide, and a security guard searched for the two and found them at a beachside north of PIC.

The friend started scolding the alleged victim, who then began crying. The friend demanded that Demapan be arrested by the police, who at the time responded.

After the initial interview at the Office of the Attorney General, the alleged victim and her companion met a private lawyer.

Camacho said the alleged victim and her companion changed their stories several times, which undermined their credibility.

Camacho said the alleged victim openly lied under oath about hiring a private lawyer and that she is in the process of suing PIC, further undermining her credibility.

“There was no reason she had to lie. It is her right to hire an attorney. The issue is that she lied about it,” the judge pointed out.

Attorney Joshua Berger testified that, on behalf of the alleged victim, he wrote a letter to PIC, demanding $300,000.

The trial began on Monday.