US army begins probe on Pinay rape case in Okinawa

The southern Japanese prefecture is home to about 20,000 US soldiers and has since been in hot water for previous rape scandals including that of a 14-year-old Japanese school girl who was forced to have sex with a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant. The red marks indicate the US camps on Okinawa (photo: Wikipedia)MANILA, Philippines - The US military is investigating the American soldier who allegedly raped a 22-year-old Filipino worker in Japan's southern island of Okinawa.

Army spokeswoman Amanda Kraus told the Associated Press (AP) that an army-appointed investigator began the military equivalent of a pretrial probe on Monday into the allegations against a 25-year-old specialist assigned to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.

According to Kraus, the soldier is reportedly restricted to the base but is not facing formal charges on any of the allegations.

In May, Japanese prosecutors in Okinawa dismissed charges against the soldier after finding insufficient evidence. Army investigators have pursued the case since.

The next step in the military legal process is a preliminary hearing by an independent officer, Kraus said.

The army has 120 days to decide whether to formally press all or part of the charges and hold a court martial, or dismiss the case entirely, she added.

"Hazel," a 22-year-old cultural dancer and first-time overseas worker, was allegedly raped in Okinawa just two days after her arrival there from the Philippines last February.

According to an aunt, she was still able to talk to her niece at around 4 p.m. on Feb 17, a few hours before her ordeal with the American serviceman.

Japanese police reports said that Hazel was invited to dinner by a 20-something US serviceman at around 2 a.m. of February 18, the day the alleged rape incident took place in a hotel. Hazel woke up several hours later, bleeding.

Offenses against Japanese females involving U.S. troops have sparked anger in Japan over the U.S. military and its 50,000-strong presence, most of them on the southern island.

In May, a U.S. court martial found a 38-year-old Marine, initially accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl February in Okinawa, guilty of a lesser charge of abusive sexual conduct and sentenced him to four years in prison.

A U.S. military tribunal in Iwakuni, southwestern Japan, sentenced four Marines to prison for gang-assaulting a 20-year-old woman in the city of Hiroshima in October, in separate rulings earlier this year. - AP, with reports from GMANews.TV

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