TOKYO (Sputnik) – Castellanos was arrested in March on suspicion of raping the woman, a tourist from Fukuoka Prefecture, at a hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. The first court hearing was held on Friday. The Japanese Kyodo news agency reported that Castellanos admitted to having raped the woman.
Castellanos, who is based at the US Marines’ Camp Schwab in northern Okinawa, said the woman was sleeping in a hotel hallway when he decided to rape her.
Earlier this week, Okinawa Prefecture's assembly adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of US Marines from the island following the arrest of a military base worker accused of murder.
Last week, a 32-year-old US Marine veteran was arrested on suspicion of stabbing and strangling a 20-year-old Japanese woman near the US Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa.
On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama expressed his condolences to the family of the murdered woman during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
