TOKYO (TR) – The son of former Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Katsuya Ogawa has been accused of molesting two more girls — bringing the total to four — while out on bail for the same crime, reports TBS News (Sept. 3).
On May 7, Yosuke Ogawa, 22, allegedly grabbed hold of the chest of the two elementary school girls in fondling their bodies on a road and at an apartment building in Nerima Ward.
Ogawa emerged as a person of interest after an examination of security camera footage. Police had previously accused him of fondling the chest of another elementary school girl in Nerima on May 13. The following day, the suspect allegedly groped a fourth elementary school girl.
“Whether the first case or the second case, I don’t remember a thing,” the suspect was quoted by police in denying the most recent allegations.
Dating back to last year, police have arrested Ogawa in two other cases. In the first, he molested an elementary school girl in Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture. In the second, he attempted to fondle the body of a middle school girl in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Following a trial, he was released on bail in April.
On November 2, 2017, the day of his son’s first arrest, Katsuya Ogawa, who at the time was the DP’s secretary-general in the House of Councillors, submitted his resignation from the party. “I want to apologize to the girl and her family,” the lawmaker said at a press conference at the time.