By ANTARA News/Kyodo,
Naha : The Naha District Court sentenced a U.S. military policeman Monday to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for conspiring with four minors to assault a taxi driver in the city of Okinawa and steal 6,000 yen in March.
Senior Airman Darius Brunson, 22, assigned to the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, admitted to the charges at the first hearing of his trial on June 2.
His defense counsel had asked for leniency, saying he has repented of his act.
Public prosecutors had demanded three years in prison.
According to the indictment, Brunson, in conspiracy with four American teenagers, attacked the taxi driver in the city of Okinawa at around 12:20 a.m. on March 16, hitting him in the head several times, and made away with a coin box containing around 6,000 yen.