CHIBA (TR) – A court here has handed a 34-year-old man a prison term over the rape of a high school girl in Kamogawa City more than 15 years ago, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Mar. 9).
At the Chiba District Court on Monday, presiding judge Takeichi Sakata handed the unnamed man, who was 18 at the time of the crime, a prison sentence of seven years and six months for rape resulting in injury.
According to the ruling, the man choked the girl on a road in April 2005. With her unable to fend off the attack, he then sexually assaulted her.
The prosecution had sought an 8-year term.
Statute of limitations
In January 2019, the results of a DNA analysis of evidence found a the crime scene proved to be a match for the man. Police arrested him 17 months before the expiration of the statute of limitations in the case, which extend for 15 years.
“Since it was a long time ago, I do not recall [the matter],” the defendant said during the trial in claiming innocence.
Judge Sakata said that the DNA match was the deciding factor in determining the ruling. “It was malicious random attack that caused great mental and physical anguish to the victim,” the judge said.
