Overview
- Pfc. Austin Wedington pleaded not guilty to forcible sexual intercourse and admitted injuring a second woman at his first Naha District Court hearing, saying he has no memory of the incident.
- Prosecutors allege he entered the women’s restroom at Camp Foster’s Gunners Fitness Center on March 18, restrained a 20-year-old worker, and assaulted a second woman who tried to intervene.
- Security footage, fingerprints from a stall door, and DNA samples were submitted, and the judge said decisions on evidence will come at a later date.
- The defense plans to contest the alleged sexual assault and the stomping of the second woman, citing intoxication, and the judge queried the defendant’s decision-making capacity at the time.
- In a separate June case, an unnamed Navy sailor is accused of inappropriately touching a teenage girl; police referred the case to prosecutors on Nov. 7 and the sailor remains in U.S. custody as Okinawa officials seek stronger preventive measures.