U.S. Marine Pleads for Forgiveness in Okinawa Rape Case

One of three U.S. servicemen charged in the rape of an Okinawa schoolgirl made a trembling apology Monday, asking the court to forgive him for his role in the crime.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve done,” Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp told the court, his voice breaking. “I’m sorry for the outrage I caused. I would feel the same way if someone had hurt my little girl.”

Harp, who has a 9-month-old daughter, repeated an earlier claim that he did not rape the 12-year-old girl, although he admitted he helped abduct her and bound her wrists with tape.

In Monday’s court session, the third so far, Harp repeated his accusation that he was forced by U.S. investigators to confess to rape to get a lighter sentence.

Harp, 21, of Griffin, Ga.; Marine Pfc. Kendrick Ledet, 20, of Waycross, Ga., and Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, 22, of Woodville, Texas, are charged with rape causing injury, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The girl was hospitalized for two days after the attack.

Gill has acknowledged raping the girl, while Harp and Ledet have admitted that they helped plot her abduction. The child was seized as she emerged from a stationery store where she had rbought school supplies.