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<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>Ex-Marine admits raping, assaulting woman in Okinawa but denies murdering her</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>Former Marine, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, was charged in April 2016 with the rape and murder of Rina Shimabukuro, 20</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>Shinzato, 33, was working as a military contractor at the US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island, of Okinawa</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>The suspect is accused of hitting Shimabukuro on the head with a bar on a road, choking, then stabbing her in the neck during an attempted rape</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>The tragic sexual assault happened around 10 pm April 28, 2016</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>Defense contend that “He [Shinzato], did not stab her during the assault”</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>“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,” &#8211; defense</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>Prosecutors said the crime was premeditated as Shinzato prepared a suitcase to transport the victim’s body</strong></span></h6>
<h6 class="section-tag"><span style="color: #080000;"><strong>He also changed his clothes at a hotel after the incid</strong>ent</span><img class="" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400;" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" alt="Ex-Marine admits raping, assaulting woman in Okinawa but denies murdering her" /></h6>
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<h6 id="featured-image-wrapper"><img class="alignnone wp-image-285535" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Kenneth-Shinzato-12.png" alt="Kenneth Shinzato 12.png" width="431" height="583" /><img class="alignnone wp-image-285534" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Kenneth-Shinzato-11.png" alt="Kenneth Shinzato 11.png" width="229" height="587" /><strong>Kenneth Shinzato is escorted out of Uruma police station on Okinawa, [right], in 2016</strong></h6>
<div>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.</div>
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<p>Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 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<br />
Japanese prosecutors charged Shinzato, 33, then a US military contractor at the US base in Okinawa with the murder and rape of the 20-year-old woman in a high-profile case that has renewed anti-American base sentiment on the southern Japanese island.<br />
Prosecutors told the Okinawa District Court that Shinzato choked Shimabukuro and stabbed her in the neck during an attempted sexual assault on a road.<br />
Shinzato admitted in court raping and assaulting Shimabukuro, as well as abandoning her body, but said he did not intend to kill her, <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/crime/ex-u.s.-base-worker-denies-intent-to-kill-okinawa-woman">according to Japan Today.</a><br />
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.</p>
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<img class="alignnone wp-image-285525" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Rina-Shimabukuro-and-Kenneth-Franklin-Shinzato-1.png" alt="Rina Shimabukuro and Kenneth Franklin Shinzato 1.png" width="756" height="445" /><strong>Former marine, Kenneth Shinzato [right], admits assaulting Rina Shimabukuro, [left]. He claims her death was unintentional</strong></h6>
<p>According to the indictment, Shinzato assaulted the woman for the purpose of raping her about 10 p.m. April 28, 2016.<br />
Shinzato who was working at an internet company within the premises of the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa is accused of hitting the victim on the head with a bar. He grabbed her in a choke hold and 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.<br />
Shinzato began working as a military contractor after serving as a Marine from 2007 to 2014, according to his lawyers and the US Defense Department. He was married and had a family in Okinawa at the time of the incident but got divorced afterward.<br />
During the hearing, Shinzato said he planned to let the woman go after raping her, denying any murderous intent.<br />
“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.</p>
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<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-285522" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Naha-District-Court-is-seen-in-session-Thursday-during-the-first-hearing-for-KennethShinanzaro-Nov-16-2017.jpg" alt="The Naha District Court is seen in session Thursday during the first hearing for KennethShinanzaro, Nov 16, 2017.jpg" width="850" height="566" /><strong>The Naha District Court is seen in session during the first hearing for US base worker, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, Nov 16</strong></h6>
<p>Defense attorneys argued that their client&#8217;s crime was a non-premeditated accident &#8211; Shinzato said he planned to let his victim go after raping her, denying any murderous intent.<br />
An interpreter is being used at the trial as Shinzato barely speaks Japanese.<br />
However, he refused to answer any questions from both his defense counsel and the prosecutors during the hearing in the afternoon, exercising his right to remain silent.<br />
His defense counsel said, &#8220;He [Shinzato], did not stab her [Shimabukuro], 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.&#8221;<br />
Prosecutors maintained Shinzato had every intent of killing Shimabukuro, referring to multiple stabbing of the victim&#8217;s neck.<br />
It was a premeditated crime prosecutors said, because the defendant prepared a suitcase to transport the body and changed his clothes at a hotel after the incident.<br />
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.<br />
The court ruling is scheduled for Dec. 1.</p>
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Former Marine, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, charged in rape and murder of Okinawa woman, admits assaulting Rina Shimabukuro, denies murder
