The Philippine government on Monday charged a U.S. Marine with murdering a Filipino transgender woman, The Associated Press reports.
{mosads}There is “probable cause” that Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton killed Jennifer Laude, formerly known as Jeffrey, last October by drowning her in the toilet bowl in a motel room in Olongapo city, northwest of the capital city of Manila, according to government prosecutor Emilie de los Santos.
“It’s murder,” de los Santos told reporters after filing the charge, which has no potential for bail, against the 19-year-old Pemberton in court. “It was aggravated by treachery, abuse of superior strength and cruelty.”
Prosecutors say Pemberton and friends picked up women at a bar in Olongapo before checking into nearby motels. Witnesses said they saw Pemberton check in with Laude and then leaving shortly before her body was discovered.
One of Pemberton’s shipmates said he confessed to attacking the woman after discovering that she was transgender when she undressed, prosecutors say.
The case comes after the U.S. recently signed a defense accord with the Philippines that would provide it with better access to the country’s military camps, a move to possibly counter China’s growing clout in the region.
A spokesman for the Philippine’s foreign affairs ministry said the government looks “forward to the full cooperation of the U.S. government in ensuring that justice is secured for Laude.”
Pemberton remains under American custody with an outer ring of Filipino guards on a U.S. warship at the Philippine military’s main camp in metropolitan Manila.