The Yokosuka sailor who murdered a Japanese cab driver claims the “voices” made him do it:

It wasn’t the cab fare that prompted a U.S. sailor to kill a taxi driver but rather a chorus of echoing voices in his head, the seaman’s lawyer said Friday.

Attorney Yasutoshi Murakami told Stars and Stripes on Friday he is requesting Kanagawa prefectural police to change the motive of “robbery-murder” to just “murder” in light of the defense attorney’s conversation with USS Cowpens Seaman Olatunbosun Ugbogu.

Ugbogu told Murakami that he did not intend to rob the taxi driver and had suffered from mental problems since high school, Murakami said.

“He told me that the voice he hears is like 20 people ordering him at the same time,” Murakami said.

The attorney said the 22-year-old sailor told him the voices ordered him to “stab somebody” on March 19, and because the Ugbogu couldn’t find anyone on the rainy Tokyo streets, he ended up in Masaaki Takahashi’s taxi.  [Stars & Stripes]

The article goes on to explain why the sailor possibly went AWOL by explaining how the “voices” caused him to commit violence and steal things from others before.  If true it appears this guy may be spending time in the Japanese nuthouse with this other loon that claimed God asked him to commit rape.

As bad as this murder is it appears most people in Yokosuka are taking it in context of overall crime in Japan:

“I haven’t felt any change,” said Miguel Mendoza, a Navy retiree who has lived in Yokosuka for seven years. “It’s a tragedy, but it seems like it’s always the one person who messes everything up for everyone.”

That sentiment was echoed by several Japanese in the community.

“He just happened to be an American, and you can’t say this wouldn’t happen with a Japanese person. It could happen anywhere in the world — it happened to happen here,” said 64-year-old Katsuhiro Funahashi, who was born and raised in Yokosuka. He was more curious about why the sailor did it, he said.

A 37-year-old housewife out walking with her two children said that “anyone” could have been a suspect. But because Americans are different, they stand out, she said.  [Stars & Stripes]

This is a phenomenon I have seen in Korea as well, where the people that actually live with the servicemembers complain less then people who have nothing to do with US servicemembers.