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SEOUL — A U.S. soldier accused of raping a South Korean teenager told judges on Wednesday that the two had consensual oral sex, but they did not have intercourse.

“I did not rape anyone,” Pvt. Kevin Robinson, 21, said in a final statement to the Seoul Central District Court, where he is being tried on charges of rape and larceny. According to South Korean police, Robinson allegedly attacked the 17-year-old in her residence in Seoul on Sept. 17 following a night of drinking.

Robinson, who is stationed at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul, admitted on Wednesday to taking a laptop from the teen’s residence, but said he later lost it. He eventually gave South Korean police money so the teen could buy a new one, saying “it was the right thing to do.”

An initial hearing in the trial was closed to the press on the head judge’s orders because the alleged victim did not want to give her testimony in public.

Both the prosecution and defense admitted during closing arguments Wednesday that there was no direct evidence in the case. However, prosecutor Yoon Byung-joon said there was enough circumstantial evidence for a conviction, including items recovered from the scene that were stained with blood and semen. No semen, however, was found on the alleged victim , possibly because she showered immediately after the incident, he said.

He also said the teen was a virgin who was “dead drunk” during the alleged attack.

Yoon, who said the alleged victim did not remember the incident, asked that Robinson be sentenced to seven years in prison.

Robinson’s case was one of two high-profile incidents last fall that led the U.S. Forces Korea commander to reinstitute an off-post nighttime curfew. In the other case, Pvt. Kevin Lee Flippin was sentenced to 10 years in prison for brutally raping another South Korean teenager on Sept. 24 in her Dongducheon boarding house.

A verdict in Robinson’s trial will be announced on May 9. He is being held in South Korean custody.

Stars and Stripes translator Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this story.

rowlanda@pstripes.osd.mil

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