In a rare and significant move, senior officials from the US Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, formally apologized to local officials on Thursday for a sexual assault committed by a Marine.
The 22-year-old US Marine lance corporal was sentenced to seven years in prison in June for attempting to sexually assault a woman, resulting in injury. The assault occurred on Okinawa's main island in May last year.
Colonel Neil Owens, chief of staff for the Third Marine Division, visited the prefectural government office in Naha city on Thursday to offer an apology.
Owens told senior prefectural officials that he wants to apologize to the victim and people in Okinawa who were made anxious by the Marine's conviction.
The head of the Okinawa governor's office, Tamari Masahito, told Owens that there have been eight sex-related cases involving US troops in Okinawa since December 2023.
据环球网援引《朝日新闻》报道，除此次的事件外，近期还至少有另外两起美军士兵性侵事件被揭发，但因检方认为证据不够充分无法让罪名成立等原因，这两起事件的当事人都没有被起诉。
长期以来，驻日美军犯罪高发。据冲绳县统计，1972年至2023年间，驻日美军及家属在冲绳共涉及约6200起刑事案件，其中不乏杀人、强奸、抢劫等恶性案件。
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