TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a former babysitter for allegedly molesting a 5-year-old girl at a her residence in Meguro Ward, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 12).
In April and May, Ken Arai, then a babysitter, allegedly probed his fingers inside the underwear of the girl, who is enrolled in a nursery school, inside the residence and a public toilet for a park.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of indecent assault on June 12, Arai admitted to the allegations. “I couldn’t control my feelings,” the suspect was quoted by the Meguro Police Station.
According to police, Arai registered with a smartphone app for babysitters seeking work in July, 2018. He has a credential as a nursery school and kindergarten teacher.
The mother of the girl utilized his services on eight occasions after she was forced to work from home in April and May due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The molestations took place during times when she was not present, police said.
Second case
On June 10, police arrested another male babysitter who registered with the same app, Akinori Hashimoto, over the alleged rapes of a boy at his residence in Adachi Ward on two occasions last year.
According to police, Hashimoto filmed the incidents, the Mainichi Shimbun (June 10) reports. The arrest was the third for the 29-year-old. Earlier this year, police arrested him over alleged sexual assaults of two other boys last year.
The app stopped accepting requests for work by male babysitters on June 4.
