2 U.S. sailors get 9-10 years for raping woman in Okinawa
TOKYO —
Two U.S. sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October were jailed on Friday for a crime that reignited long-smouldering anger against the American military in Japan.The Naha District Court in Okinawa said Seaman Christopher Browning, 24, should go to prison for 10 years for the brutal rape of the young woman, from whom he also stole 7,000 yen.
Petty officer 3rd class Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, was jailed for nine years, also for raping the woman before dawn in a car park.
Browning and Dozierwalker, who were not stationed in Okinawa, had been drinking on the evening of the attack, and “were contemptible and violent”, Judge Hideyuki Suzuki said.
“The ruling may seem severe, but the damage to the feelings of the victim and residents is more severe,” he said in a statement after the case, according to Kyodo News.
During an earlier court appearance, the two men had admitted the rape, which caused outrage on the sub-tropical islands and beyond, and led to a nationwide night-time curfew on all U.S. military personnel in Japan.
Despite the curfew, misconduct involving servicemen, much of it drunken, has continued to fuel anti-U.S. sentiment in communities with bases.
Wary of yet another public relations disaster, the U.S. moved quickly to try to lower the temperature immediately after the rape, with Ambassador John Roos holding a special news conference at which he appeared visibly angry and upset.
“The United States will cooperate in every way possible with the Japanese authorities to address this terrible situation.”
“I understand the anger that many people feel with respect to this reported incident,” he said. “I have a 25-year-old daughter myself, so this is very personal to me.”
Okinawa is the reluctant host to more than half of the 47,000 American service personnel in Japan, and the crimes, noise and risk of accidents associated with their bases regularly provoke ire in the local community.
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