SAGA (TR) – Saga Prefectural Police have arrested a male government official for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a woman for two hours at a park in Saga City earlier this year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Sept. 12).
Between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. on May 26, Kazuhiro Hiwatashi, 56, crisis management officer at the Saga Regional Meteorological Observatory, attempted to rape the woman, aged in her 30s, at the park.
Hiwatashi, who has been accused of attempted rape, denies the charges.
Prior to the incident, the suspect called out to the woman she walked home on a street. He then forced her into the park, where she resisted his attempted rape for some two hours, police said, adding she suffered no injuries.
Hiwatashi took up his position at the observatory in April 2016 and showed no work attitude issues, according to the general affairs division of the Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory.
