FUKUOKA (TR) – The Fukuoka High Court last week dismissed an appeal by a 25-year-old unemployed man after he was convicted of committing and filming indecent acts against multiple elementary school girls, Nagasaki Broadcasting (July 19).
Between March 2022 and April 2023, the unnamed defendant targeted girls aged 7, 8, and 10 inside the elevator of a residential complex in Nagasaki City.
According to the ruling, handed down on July 15, the man exposed himself, masturbated and rubbed his genitals against the young girls’ clothing while filming their reactions on video. He reportedly chose young girls as his targets because adults would “find out,” and he sought the “thrill and sexual excitement” of committing the crimes in a closed space.
In February, the Nagasaki District Court handed the man a three-year prison sentence over five charges, including non-consensual indecency and the filming of sexual imagery.
The defense, which was seeking a suspended sentence, appealed the ruling to the Fukuoka High Court, arguing that the sentence was inappropriately severe and seeking a suspended term. In their appeal, the defense argued that because of the victims’ young age, it was “doubtful how much they understood the sexual implications of the indecent acts,” claiming that any damage to their personal dignity was strictly “abstract.”
Presiding judge Go Okabe firmly rejected this argument and upheld the lower court’s decision.
“The victimized children suffered mental anguish, such as strong feelings of fear and anxiety, and there are concerns about the negative impact on their sound development in the future,” the judge said in dismissing the appeal. “There is no error in the first instance judgment, and the sentence cannot be said to be unreasonably heavy.”
