December 20, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 15, 1423

TOKYO, Dec 19: A US Marine officer was indicted and handed over to Japanese authorities Thursday on charges of attempting to rape a Philippine woman last month in Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture.

Prosecutors in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, where two-thirds of 47,000 US troops in Japan are stationed, indicted Marine Corps Major Michael Brown, 39, an official for the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office told AFP.

“He was indicted on charges of attempted rape and damage to property,” the official said.

The US Marine Corps said later in a statement that Brown was handed over to Japanese authorities at around 2:30 pm after being indicted, in line with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the US military presence in Japan.

Brown, based at the US Marines’ Camp Courtney in Okinawa, allegedly tried to rape the woman in the early hours of November 2 and smashed her cellular phone.

He met her for the first time that day and asked her to give him a ride. The woman fought off his sexual advances in her car, police said.

Hours after the indictment, Brown was sent to the Naha District Detention Center operated by the state-run Okinawa Prison.

“Thanks to the indictment, the suspect was handed over to the Japanese side, marking a major turning point in this case,” Okinawan governor Keiichi Inamine said in a statement.—AFP