At around 11:00 p.m. on June 14, 2008, Toru Nozawa, a corporate officer, accosted a girl, then a vocational student, in residential area of Kawaguchi City. “If you scream, I’ll kill you,” he reportedly threatened. He then took her to a nearby park where he sexually assaulted her.
Nozawa, who has been accused of rape, denies the allegations, telling the Kawaguchi Police Station that he “does not recall” the incident.
According to police, Nozawa surfaced as a person of interest based on evidence left behind at the crime scene. Since April, police had been seeking his whereabouts.
After locating him at the residence of an acquaintance in Kawaguchi on May 13, he was arrested at 8:18 p.m. that day. Police sent him to prosecutors on Thursday. The statute of limitations in the case were set to expire on Friday at midnight.
