TOKYO, Jul 8 (NNN-NHK) – Two U.S. servicemen have been arrested, in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, over the weekend, for allegedly assaulting Japanese nationals, local media reported, yesterday.
The Okinawa police, on Saturday, arrested Tomas Salazar, who belongs to the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena base in the prefecture, on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend at a parking lot, Jiji Press reported.
The 25-year-old airman allegedly knocked down the woman, in her 20s, and punched her in the face several times, at around 3:30 a.m. local time Saturday, causing an injury to her mouth, but he has denied the allegations, the report said.
The prefectural police also arrested Gabriel Monize, a 21-year-old private 1st class, who belongs to the U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in Okinawa, on Sunday, on suspicion of slightly injuring an unacquainted Japanese man, by putting his hands around the latter’s neck at around 12:10 a.m. local time the same day, the report added.
According to the police, the 40-year-old Japanese man was in his parked car on a street, when Monize suddenly entered the vehicle and assaulted him from behind. Monize has denied the allegations, while refusing to take an alcohol test.
Just last week, senior officials from the U.S. Marine Corps, stationed in Okinawa Prefecture, formally apologised to local officials for a sexual assault committed by a Marine, marking the first official apology from the U.S. military, following a series of similar incidents involving U.S. service members that have surfaced since last year.
Neil Owens, chief of staff for the Third Marine Division, visited the prefectural government office in Naha City on Jul 3 and said, “We apologise for the anxiety this has caused the people of Okinawa, and our thoughts are with the victim in this case.”
The apology came, after the Naha District Court on Jun 24, sentenced Jamel Clayton, a 22-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa, to seven years in prison, for attempting to sexually assault a local woman and injuring her in May last year.
Okinawa hosts 70 percent of all the U.S. military bases in Japan, while accounting for only 0.6 percent of the country’s total land area. Crimes committed by U.S. service members and nonmilitary personnel have been a constant source of grievance for locals.– NNN-NHK
