US Navy turns sailor in

2006-01-07 22:05

Tokyo - The US Navy on Saturday turned over a sailor to Japanese police, who arrested him on robbery and murder charges in a case that could trigger more opposition to the US. military presence in Japan.

William Oliver Reese, 21, is accused of beating and robbing 56-year-old Yoshie Sato of about $129 on a Yokosuka street on January 3, a Kanagawa Prefectural (state) Police official said on condition of anonymity, citing police protocol.

Sato died of her injuries.

The case comes at an important juncture for the US military in Japan. Washington and Tokyo are working to overcome local opposition to plans to build a US military airstrip in the southern island of Okinawa, and to base a US nuclear-powered warship at Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, for the first time.

The US Navy Forces Japan issued a statement saying it will continue cooperating with Japanese authorities in the case.

Sailor asked victim for change

"The US Navy's responsibility to see this matter through to its rightful conclusion does not end here, and we will continue to provide our complete support and cooperation with Japanese authorities," Rear Admiral James Kelly, the commander of US naval forces in Japan, said in the statement.

Reese was based on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and has been in Japan since May 2004. He has been in the Navy for about two years and Japan was his first assignment, the Navy said.

Police plan to transfer the suspect to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office on Monday, according to the Kanagawa police official.

Kyodo News agency quoted unidentified sources as saying Reese had told investigators that he had asked Sato for change so he could take a taxi but that she'd pushed him away and he became angry and beat her.

Kanagawa Police could not immediately confirm the account.

Reflecting the sensitivity of the case, the US Embassy issued a statement Friday expressing regret over the crime.

In 1995, an uproar over the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen on Japan's southern island of Okinawa triggered massive protests and led to the relocation of an air base to a less densely populated part of the island.

The rape case also resulted in an agreement with the US military that it would hand over American suspects in serious crimes to Japanese authorities for pre-indictment investigations.

About 50 000 US troops are stationed in Japan under a joint security pact, but Tokyo and Washington agreed in October to move 7 000 Marines from Okinawa to the US Pacific island territory of Guam, and to shift some of the remaining troops within Japan.

- SAPA