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 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.m. April 28, 2016.
After hitting her on the head with a bar, he stabbed her in the neck with a knife to prevent her from resisting, and she died as a result. Her skeletal remains were found on May 19 of that year in a wooded area in the village of Onna, north of Uruma.
Shinzato was working at an internet company on the base at the time of the crime after serving as a Marine from 2007 to 2014, according to his lawyers and the US Defense Department.
During the hearing, he said he planned to let the woman go after raping her, denying any murderous intent.
“He did not stab her during the assault. He wrung her neck but did not try to kill her and there is a possibility that the woman died as a result of falling and hitting her head on the ground,” his defense attorney said.
Prosecutors argued that the crime was premeditated as he prepared a suitcase to transport the woman’s body and changed his clothes at a hotel after the incident.
Shinzato had requested his trial be held outside Okinawa, saying it was unlikely a fair trial could be held there amid the strong anti-US base sentiment. The Supreme Court rejected his request.
A ruling will be handed down Dec. 1.