A former US military base worker has confessed to the rape and assault of a Japanese woman in Okinawa but denied murdering her, as his trial opened…
A former US military base worker has confessed to the rape and assault of a Japanese woman in Okinawa but denied murdering her, as his trial opened Thursday.
Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 33, a former US Marine working at the US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island, was charged in April 2016 with the murder of Rina Shimabukuro, 20.
Prosecutors told the Okinawa District Court that Shinzato choked Shimabukuro and stabbed her in the neck during an attempted sexual assault on a road, Agence France-Presse reported.
Shinzato admitted in court to raping and assaulting Shimabukuro, as well as abandoning her body, but said he did not intend to kill her, according to Japan Today.
The case has intensified longstanding opposition to the US military presence on Okinawa — a strategic island that reluctantly hosts nearly 75 percent of land allotted for American bases in Japan.
According to the indictment, Shinzato assaulted the woman for the purpose of raping her about 10 p.
