AICHI (TR) – A court here last month handed a man an innocent ruling over the alleged rape of his teenage daughter, arguing she could have resisted his sexual advances, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Apr. 5)
The man, whose age was not provided, was indicted over the alleged rape of his daughter, then 19, on two occasions in August and September, 2017. At the time, they were living together in Aichi Prefecture.
The man was accused of quasi-coerced intercourse. Under the law, a violation occurs when one party uses violence or threats such that the other party is taken advantage of and cannot resist sexual advances.
During the trial, held at the Okazaki branch of the Nagoya District Court, the prosecution claimed that the daughter had been subjected to violence and sexual abuse from the defendant from the time she was a second-year middle school student until she entered a vocational school.
The prosecution further said that it was extremely difficult for her to resist his actions due to school tuition burdens.
The defense argued that there was consent on the part of the daughter, saying she could have resisted.
Could have refused
On March 26, presiding judge Hiromitsu Ukai ruled that the man’s daughter did not give consent for the sexual contact, but he added, in siding with the defense, that she could have refused.
“After many years of sexual abuse, the defendant had placed [his daughter] under a state of mind control,” Ukai said. “But it is difficult to recognize that it was to the point of complete control of her personality and a state of dependency. So there remains reasonable doubt that it was not impossible for her resist.”
The prosecution had sought a 10-year prison term.
“We will carefully examine the content of the judgment, and after consulting with an upper-level agency we would like to respond appropriately,” a junior prosecutor with the Nagoya District Public Prosecutor’s Office was quoted.
