YAMANASHI (TR) – Last August, a teenage girl was sexually assaulted by a man at a hotel in Kofu City. On May 11, the first trial of the unnamed male defendant was held at the Kofu District Court.
During the session, the details emerged about how the girl was targeted by the man, who looking for a “playmate” in the early morning hours of downtown Kofu, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (May 20).
The defendant, a 42-year-old farmer from Kofu, is charged with non-consensual sexual intercourse.
On August 7, the man allegedly committed an indecent act against the girl, who was under the age of 16 at the time.
According to the prosecution’s opening statement, at around 2:30 a.m. that day, the man saw the girl being harassed by a second man in the downtown area.
At this point, the man chased the other man away and spoke to the girl, asking her age. The girl was 15 years old at the time. When she said she was waiting for a friend, the man suggested, “I won’t do anything, let’s wait together at a hotel.”
Attitude changed completely
The girl, who trusted the man because he had helped her, couldn’t refuse. They got into a taxi and went to the hotel in the city. Once inside the room, the man’s attitude changed completely.
“Of course, I’m going to do something,” he said, and when the girl refused his demands for sexual acts, the man threatened her, saying things like, “You should at least thank me,” and “I’ll hit you.” He then physically assaulted her, hitting her and pulling her hair, forcing the girl to comply.
The man then fell asleep at the hotel, and the girl escaped. She went to a friend’s house and sent a message to her mother on her cell phone saying, “I didn’t want to die, so I waited for him to fall asleep.”
“I’m afraid of men”
During the trial that day, it was revealed that the man, who had been estranged from his wife, had been spending time with multiple women. He said he had been drinking with an acquaintance before the incident, and during questioning, he stated, “I was looking for someone to have fun with, regardless of age,” and “When I heard that [the girl] was going to places like [the red-light district of Kabukicho in Tokyo] I thought, ‘I can do this.'”
After the incident, the girl reportedly told a friend, “I’ve had enough, I’m thinking of killing myself.” In court, the girl’s words were read aloud: “I’ve come to be afraid of men. I can never forgive him, so I want him severely punished.”
In their closing arguments, the prosecution requested a six-year prison sentence, stating that “the crime was malicious and there are absolutely no mitigating circumstances.” The defense requested a lenient sentence, and the trial concluded.
At the end of the proceedings, the man bowed his head and said, “I’m very sorry.” The verdict will be handed down on June 24.
