TOKYO (TR) – Two medical professionals in custody for allegedly drugging and raping a woman earlier this year have been accused in a second case from the same day, police have revealed, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Mar. 19).
On Tuesday, police accused Masataka Kaneko, a 28-year-old doctor at Showa University Hospital, and Hisaaki Obayashi, a 26-year-old intern at an affiliated hospital, of attempted quasi-coerced intercourse and abduction for the purpose of committing an obscene act.
Between 11:00 p.m. on January 18 and 5:30 a.m. the following morning, the suspects allegedly laced a drink consumed by a woman, aged in her 20s, with a sleeping powder at a karaoke parlor in Shinagawa Ward and took her to Kaneko’s residence where they attempted to sexually assault her while she was passed out.
Kaneko denies the allegations, telling police that he did not force the woman to consume medicine “The [attempted] sex was consensual,” he reportedly said. Obayashi also denies drugging the victim, but he admits to attempting to carry out the sex act.
Group of four
According to police, the suspects visited the karaoke parlor with two women. They went to Kaneko’s residence by taxi as a group of four.
Last month, police first arrested the suspects over the alleged drugging and rape of one of the women, also in her 20s.
The suspects were unable to actually sexually assault the second woman since she fended off the attack, police said.
Traces of a sleep-inducing drug were detected in the systems of both women. As previously reported, the same medication was discovered in the residence of Kaneko in Shinagawa Ward during a search.
In another development, police have learned that Kaneko had access to the medication from several hospitals.
