To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The Yomiuri Shimbun People line up in front of the Naha District Court for gallery seats in Naha on Friday.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
15:41 JST, July 13, 2024
NAHA — A member of the U.S. Air Force charged with sexual assault and abduction for indecent purposes after allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl under 16 in Okinawa Prefecture pleaded not guilty Friday.
In the first hearing of the trial of 25-year-old Senior Airman Brennon Washington at the Naha District Court, prosecutors said the defendant cajoled the girl into his home and sexually assaulted her after making it impossible for her to refuse. Washington is stationed at Kadena Air Base in the prefecture.
The defendant pleaded not guilty, saying that he thought the girl was 18 years old and that the sexual interaction was consensual.
According to the indictment, Washington approached the girl whom he had never met “with the purpose of kidnapping and conducting indecent acts on her” at a park on the night of Dec. 24 last year and told her that he was a military investigator. She was alone at that time.
Washington also asked her to talk in his car because it was cold.
He then drove her to his home and sexually abused her, including touching her lower body, with the knowledge that she was under 16.
In their opening statement, the prosecutors said the defendant sexually assaulted her, performing such actions as grabbing the girl by the neck and kissing her as she tried to turn her face away.
The prosecutors also told the court and presiding Judge Tetsuro Sato that the girl told her mother about what had happened to her after returning home in tears, and the mother immediately called the police.
Defense lawyers admitted to some of his acts, including his touching the girl’s lower body, but said that the defendant had asked her age and intentions before he acted, adding that he had no intention of committing crimes and he is not guilty.
In the next hearing scheduled for Aug. 23, the victim and her mother are set to testify as witnesses for the prosecution.
This is the first case of sexual violence by a U.S. military personnel to come to light since June. About 260 people lined up in front of the district court for gallery seats prior to the opening of the trial, reflecting the high level of interest in the case.
A group of people yelled and voiced their protests against the U.S. military and the Japanese and U.S. governments in front of the court, temporarily sending the area into confusion.
