TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a staff member with the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau over the alleged rape of a woman in Kita Ward after drinking with her earlier this year, reports NHK (April 26).
Between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on February 26, Yuichi Umetsu, 34, allegedly trespassed onto the property of the apartment building of the woman, aged in her 20s, and sexually assaulted her.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of forcible sexual intercourse, Umetsu partially denied the allegations. “I stripped of her clothes and touched her breasts, but I don’t remember the rest,” the suspect was quoted by the Akabane Police Station.
Prior to the incident, the suspect called out to the woman near JR Akabane Station as she walked home. They then drank together at an izakaya restaurant for about one hour.
After they parted ways, the suspect followed the woman to the building. He then forced her into an emergency staircase where he carried out the alleged crime.
Umetsu became a person of interest in the case after an examination of security camera footage, police said.
“If this is true, it is extremely a regrettable and unacceptable [act] for a Tokyo government employee,” a representative of the bureau was quoted. “We will train our staff to prevent this from happening [again].”
