US Marine in Okinawa sentenced to 7 years in prison for attempted sexual assault

NHK

17 hours ago

A court in Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa has sentenced a US Marine to seven years in prison for attempting to sexually assault a woman resulting in injury.
Marine Lance Corporal Jamel Clayton, aged 22, was accused of strangling the woman, who he did not know, and subjecting her to other forms of violence on Okinawa's main island in May of last year.
In the trial, prosecutors demanded ten years' imprisonment. But the defense raised a number of concerns about the woman's testimony, saying it could not be trusted. The defense claimed the defendant was innocent.
At the Naha District Court on Tuesday, presiding judge Obata Kazuhiko pointed out that the woman's testimony was highly credible, saying its explicitness and authenticity can come only through actual experience.
The judge described the defendant's actions as dangerous enough to result in death, and extremely vicious. He said, "The woman was attacked suddenly. She foresaw her own death which caused her tremendous mental anguish. She is still suffering from the effects."
Neither the Japanese government nor the prefectural police had notified the Okinawa prefectural government about the case at the time of the Marine's arrest.
As a result, the prefectural police introduced a notification system last July, in which the prefectural government must be informed when US military personnel are arrested or their papers are sent to prosecutors.