U.S. marine held in rape of Japanese schoolgirl
TOKYO: A U.S. marine was arrested Monday for allegedly raping a Japanese schoolgirl in southern Japan, the police said.
Police officers arrested Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, a marine based at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture, on a charge of raping the 14-year-old girl, an Okinawa police official said. Hadnott denied raping the girl.
The arrest stirred memories of mass protests in Okinawa in 1995 following the rape of another schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.
Hadnott, whose hometown was not immediately provided, is accused of attacking the girl in a parked car in a town in central Okinawa on Sunday evening, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
The Okinawa police took the marine into custody for investigation, he said. Hadnott has not been charged.
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"I can never forgive such a crime, especially when the victim is a junior high school student," said Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima. "I feel anger."
"This is extremely regrettable," said Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura. Tokyo has asked Washington to tighten discipline among its troops based in Japan to prevent such crimes from taking place, Komura said.
Another local police official said the girl met Hadnott, a marine staff sergeant, on Sunday and accepted a ride to her home on his motorbike. The marine took her to his house instead, the official said. When the teenager started crying, he said he would drive her home, and it was at that point that the girl alleges he raped her in a car, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Hadnott told investigators he had forced the girl down and kissed her but he had not raped her, the official said.
"We are aware of the serious allegations in Okinawa overnight and are closely monitoring the situation while fully cooperating with Japanese officials," Lieutenant General Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said in a statement. "If the allegations are true, our hearts are with the victim and family," he said.
Under a mutual security pact, the United States has about 50,000 troops deployed around Japan. Most of them are based on Okinawa, and tensions there over troop-related crime and disputes over land use are endemic.