OSAKA (TR) – A court here has sentenced former hospital employee to life in prison for sexually assaulting 10 girls, including elementary school girls, while they were home alone, reports NHK (Feb. 18).
At the Osaka District Court on Tuesday, Tomoya Yanagimoto appeared in court wearing a mask and a black down jacket. As his sentence was read aloud, he took a breathless breath, shook his shoulders and slumped his head.
Yanagimoto was charged with sexually assaulting and injuring 10 girls, aged between 8 and 12 at the time, at various locations in Osaka Prefecture over a six-year period up until 2022.
The legal proceedings were complicated. Though Yanagimoto admitted to the allegations during the trial, he questioned his culpability at the time of his arrest. Further, he stated that he suffers from schizophrenia, a claim that was refuted by a psychiatrist.
Presiding judge Hiroki Ito said, “These crimes were the height of vileness and heinousness, targeting young girls who should be protected by society and damaging the very foundation of their character. The fear and mental anguish of the victims, who were suddenly attacked in their own homes, or close to home, where they should feel safest, is unimaginable. Even several years after the incidents, some children’s emotional growth has been stunted and their interpersonal relationships are impaired. As well, there are strong concerns about the impact this will have on them in the future.”
He went on to say, “The crimes were highly planned. There was a strong criminal intent to rape the girls even when you recognized their resistance. Therefore, the criminal responsibility is extremely heavy.”
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the charges The had prosecution sought a life-in-prison sentence. Meanwhile, the defense sought a fixed-term sentence, stating that “he intends to undergo treatment to stop sexually assaulting girls.”
“If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you”
During a hearing on January 14, one of the crimes committed by the defendant that took place in March 2016 was presented. In that case, he broke into the home of an elementary school girl while disguised as an electrician.
He then threatened her. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you,” he threatened. When the victim cried and resisted, he sexually assaulted and injured her. He also took photos and told her to keep quiet. “If you say even one word about the crime, I’ll show it to your friends,” he said.
Before committing the crime, the defendant had been checking the times the girl and her family left and returned home for about a month and a half. He recorded notes on his smartphone and waited for an opportunity to commit the crime.
“Putting on glasses allows me to act like a different person”
Yanagimoto was arrested in 2022. During the subsequent trial, the defendant repeatedly apologized. However, at the time of his arrest, he said, “I don’t understand why I am being blamed.”
The defendant described his investigation of the victims’ actions before the crimes as “playing detective.” He also made his own twisted claims, such as saying that “putting on glasses allows me to act like a different person,” reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 18).
He stated that he started “playing detective” when he was in high school so that he could pass by a childhood friend he had feelings for by chance.
After that, his targets expanded to young girls. Later,, while dating women of the same age, he sexually assaulted the victims.
“Faking an illness”
Yanagimoto was a 20-year-old university student when he began his crime spree. He even asked the victims their names and ages when he committed the crimes. “I had a desire to control and wanted to know everything,” he said.
About putting on glasses, which he doesn’t usually wear, he said, “It felt like I was in a dream or unrealistic world and was invincible.” About the girls screaming in pain, he said, “I didn’t think that they were refusing or that I had hurt them. I thought I had made them feel good.”
He was also interested in how the girls would act after the crimes. In some cases, he continued to track their movements.
The defendant recorded his crimes on video and watched them again later. However, he claimed that watching the video did not bring back detailed memories of the crimes. “It felt like I was watching an adult video, not something I had done,” he said.
However, a psychiatrist who conducted the psychiatric evaluation determined that the defendant’s explanations of “having a different personality” and “having memory gaps” were simply a matter of him “faking an illness.”
