The Gunners Fitness Center at Camp Foster, Okinawa, is pictured on Nov. 18, 2025. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
NAHA, Okinawa — A U.S. Marine in a Japanese court Tuesday denied sexually assaulting a Japanese woman on a Marine Corps base but admitted injuring another woman during the March incident.
Pfc. Austin Wedington, during his first appearance in Naha District Court, pleaded not guilty to forcible sexual intercourse before a three-judge panel presided over by Judge Kazuhiko Obata.
Wedington pleaded guilty to injuring the second woman, but disputed the case presented in court by prosecutor Kazutaka Maeda.
Wedington, 28, testified that he had “no memory of any of what’s being said happening,” before his attorney, Tetsu Amakata, entered a not guilty plea on the Marine’s behalf.
The prosecutor alleged in court that around 10 p.m. March 18, Wedington entered the women’s restroom in Gunners Fitness Center on Camp Foster, climbed into a stall occupied by the first woman, 20 at the time of the incident, and grabbed her mouth.
Maeda alleged that the second woman — 50 at the time of the incident — tried to intervene and was stomped in the face and placed in a rear chokehold, causing bruising, a neck sprain and a shoulder abrasion.
After she escaped and sought help, Wedington penetrated the first woman with his finger while grabbing her neck, performed oral sex and tried to have sexual intercourse with her, Maeda said.
The second woman returned about seven minutes later with another Marine, who broke down the door and held Wedington back as the woman ran away, Maeda said.
Wedington pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault and guilty to choking the second woman and causing the sprain, defense attorney Tetsu Amakata said in court. However, he did not stomp on the woman’s face or cause the bruising and shoulder abrasion, Amakata said.
Maeda submitted security camera footage of Wedington and the second woman, Wedington’s fingerprints found on the stall door and DNA samples. Obata said he would rule on evidence at the next court date.
The judge questioned Amakata about the “capability of the defendant to make decisions at the time of the incident.” Amakata responded that he will “consider it and respond before the next court date.”
Wedington, of California, served as a correction and detention specialist with the Headquarters and Service Battalion on Foster, according to Marine Corps Installations Pacific.
The first woman is a Japanese civilian employee on a U.S. base, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported April 24.
Wedington’s is the third in a series of sexual assault cases to come to trial on Okinawa in the past two years. The cases led U.S. Forces Japan in October 2024 to tighten liberty restrictions prohibiting off-base drinking by service members between 1 a.m. and 5 p.m., and to begin police patrols of nightlife districts in Okinawa city and Naha.
In December, the Naha court convicted Senior Airman Brennon Washington of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor. In June, the court convicted Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton of strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman. Both have appealed.
A fourth case is pending.
AloJapan.com