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Aichi: Prosecutors appeal innocent ruling over man’s alleged rape of daughter

AICHI (TR) – Prosecutors have appealed a ruling in which a man was found innocent over the alleged rape of his teenage daughter, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Apr. 9)

On Monday, prosecutors lodged the appeal at the Okazaki branch of the Nagoya District Court over the innocent ruling handed to the man, whose age was not revealed, over the alleged rape of his daughter, then 19, on two occasions in 2017.

The man, who at the time was living with his daughter in Aichi Prefecture, 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, the prosecution claimed that the daughter had been repeatedly subjected to violence and sexual abuse from a young age. The defense argued that there was consent on the part of the daughter, saying she could have resisted.

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.