TOKYO — A court on the Japanese island of Okinawa sentenced a former United States Marine to life in prison on Friday after convicting him of the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman.

The former Marine, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 33, confessed to raping Rina Shimabukuro and abandoning her body in Uruma, an Okinawa village, in April of last year, Kyodo News reported.

At the time of the killing, Mr. Shinzato, who served in the Marines from 2007 to 2014, was a civilian working for a contract company on Kadena Air Base, an American military installation on Okinawa. He denied an intent to murder.

Image Kenneth Franklin Shinzato admitted that he raped Ms. Shimabukuro but said he hadn’t meant to kill her. The case drew an outraged protest from the Japanese government. Credit... Ryosuke Ozawa/Kyodo News, via Associated Press

The case stoked extreme anger on Okinawa, where about 47,000 American troops are stationed. It also drew an outraged protest from the Japanese government. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raised the case in an uncharacteristically public display of anger during then-President Barack Obama’s trip to Japan last May for a Group of 7 summit meeting and a visit to Hiroshima.