The Naha District Court building in Naha, Okinawa, on Oct. 18, 2021. (Mari Higa/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A U.S. civilian working for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service on Okinawa has reversed course and decided not to appeal his four-year prison sentence for attempted rape and theft convictions, a court spokeswoman said Thursday.
Rushane Joel McKoy, 25, of Chatan Town, pleaded guilty Oct. 6 to trying to force a local woman into sex acts in April. He also pleaded guilty to stealing a shoulder bag containing 7,000 yen in cash, or about $62, in a separate incident in August 2020.
McKoy was sentenced by a three-judge panel on Oct. 18 and given two weeks to appeal.
He filed his appeal on Oct. 26 but withdrew it on Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch.
“The trial date was scheduled for Jan. 18, but now it is canceled,” she said. It’s customary in Japan for some government officials to speak to the media on condition of anonymity.
McKoy was accused of grabbing a woman in her 30s from behind in a parking lot in an undisclosed location just before 6 a.m. April 17. He fondled the woman’s breasts, pushed her to the ground, exposed himself and attempted but failed to sodomize her orally, according to prosecutors.
