Tokyo (dpa) - A US serviceman received a life sentence Friday for robbing and killing a Japanese woman in January near a US navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, local media reported.

William Reese, 22, admitted to beating 56-year-old Yoshie Sato for 10 minutes and stealing 15,000 yen (133 dollars) from her bag on January 3, but said he had not meant to kill the woman.

She died from blood loss due to ruptured internal organs.

"The defendant spent his money on drinks and killed the victim with the intention of robbing cash. His acts were extremely selfish and he takes lightly of human life," the court said.

The murder in the port community heightened already tense relationships between US bases and locals that have complained about crime, noise and environmental damage.

Yokosuka residents have also been protesting against the deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in 2008 to replace the retiring conventional-powered USS Kitty Hawk.

The convicted sailor was stationed in Japan for two years on the Kitty Hawk.

US forces took Reese into custody after he returned to the base in blood-stained clothes and handed him over with evidence to the local police. Japanese police arrested him four days later.

The United States agreed in 1995 to give "sympathetic consideration" and hand suspects over to local authorities if servicemen are suspected of felonies such as murder and rape as the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement does not stipulate that the US hand over suspects before indictment.

The agreement came after three US servicemen raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl in Okinawa in 1995.

This is the first case for which the US agreed to hand over a suspect to local authorities for murder.

Source: bangkokpost

The price of a life - $133! :evil:

I think that he actually got off easy based on the crime he committed.

Until mandatory death sentences are introduced world wide for murder killers will continue to think the risk is worth it , in my opinion.

An eye for an eye.