Marine sentenced for sex abuse of Japan teen

By Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. court martial sentenced a Marine to four years in prison on Friday for sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa, in a case that has sparked widespread public anger.

Many on the island, home to about half the nearly 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, are calling for troop numbers to be cut back, citing concerns over crime, noise and pollution.

A string of incidents this year, including the killing of a taxi driver, have forced the United States, pacifist Japan's most important security ally since World War Two, to apologize and vow to raise standards of behavior.

Tyrone Hadnott, 38, was arrested by Japanese police on suspicion of rape following the incident in February, but released after the girl withdrew her complaint, a move some in Okinawa said was to escape public attention.

Hadnott was also given a dishonorable discharge at the half-day trial, a spokesman for Okinawa Marines said.

The case was a painful reminder for many of the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by U.S. Marines in Okinawa in 1995, which provoked a wave of opposition to their presence.

Lt. Gen. Edward Rice, the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, reiterated on Friday that such crimes by servicemen should not be allowed to affect the security relationship between the two countries.

"I think this is an example of how we in the United States military will continue to hold our members accountable for their actions," he told a news conference in Tokyo.