TOKYO – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have served a fresh arrest warrant on a 27-year-old company employee for allegedly sexually assaulting and filming a middle school girl he met on social media.
The case highlights a disturbing and growing trend of predators actively hunting for minors on social media platforms, reports the site for weekly tabloid Friday (June 30).
Kodai Higuchi, a resident of Suginami Ward, is accused of non-consensual sexual intercourse and violating the child pornography ban law.
Police allege that on February 8, Higuchi brought the first-year junior high school student to his apartment in a quiet residential neighborhood, where he sexually assaulted her and recorded the act on his smartphone, knowing she was under the age of 16.
Higuchi is currently exercising his right to remain silent during police questioning.
This marks Higuchi’s second arrest. He was initially arrested and indicted in May for a separate charge of non-consensual intercourse involving the same girl. The pair reportedly became acquainted via Instagram in January.
The crimes were uncovered after the victim’s parents consulted the police. A subsequent search of Higuchi’s confiscated computer yielded the video evidence, prompting his re-arrest on June 3. Investigators are currently analyzing his devices, suspecting there may be additional victims.
When Higuchi was transferred to prosecutors from the Takaido Police Station on the morning of June 5, he aggressively turned his head away from the press, his face completely hidden behind long bangs.
Disturbing trend
The alleged crimes of Higuchi form part of an increasing problem.
Earlier this year, Saitama Prefectural Police arrested a 47-year-old man for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. The man targeted minors online, grooming them by discussing anime and manga before inviting them to his home. He instructed his victims to delete their chat histories to cover his tracks. Despite a prior arrest for violating the youth protection ordinance, he received a suspended three-year prison sentence after reaching an out-of-court settlement with the victim.
In another harrowing case from last year, a 35-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in prison after coercing around 20 junior high and high school girls into sending him obscene images. He lured the victims by posing as a recruiter offering “exclusive, paid jobs” for teens. Tragically, one junior high school girl who fell victim to his scheme took her own life on the day police contacted her family about the investigation.
As predators continue to exploit social media to satisfy their desires through increasingly sophisticated methods, public attention now turns to how Higuchi will respond when his case goes to trial.
