A U.S. airman serving in Japan was found guilty of kidnapping and sexually abusing a youngster and was given a five-year jail sentence on Friday.
On December 24, 2023, while serving at Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa, 25-year-old Senior Airman Brennon Washington contacted the girl, who was under 16, at a nearby park and brought her to his off-base home.
He was charged in March for kidnapping her and having sex with her without her consent, but the case wasn’t made public until June, which infuriated the local administration.
According to local media, Washington entered a not guilty plea when prosecutors urged the Naha District Court to sentence him to seven years in prison.
According to the Kyodo news agency, Judge Tetsuro Sato stated in his ruling that Washington “demonstrated his disregard for the girl’s decision-making process of her sexual freedom and it was heinous” because he had continued to have sex with the girl despite knowing that she was under 16 and had not given her consent.
Regardless of permission, having sex with someone under the age of sixteen is typically prohibited in Japan.
Over 50,000 American troops are stationed in Japan, where U.S. service men have been implicated in many sexual assault and other criminal charges for decades. An continuous push to lessen the U.S. military presence in Okinawa has been fueled by the issue, which has long been a source of contention with the local population.
The host unit at Kadena Air Base, the 18th Wing, stated that it collaborated extensively with local authorities during the whole affair.
In a statement released on Friday, it stated, “We share the local community’s outrage over this case, and sexual assault is reprehensible.” “The highest standards of conduct are expected of all U.S. service members at all times.”
The commander of Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing, Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, expressed his “deep trouble” with Washington’s conduct and “the damage he inflicted on the victim and her family.”
“The values of the thousands of U.S. service members who serve honorably in Okinawa in support of the Japan-U.S. Alliance are not in any way reflected in sexual assault, which is a grave offense,” he said in a statement.
