A former Japanese lawmaker was on Feb 3 given a three-year suspended jail term for raping a 12-year-old girl in 2024, sparking fury among some quarters in the country over the leniency of the sentence.
Tamotsu Shiiki was found guilty at the Tokyo District Court of non-consensual sexual intercourse with the minor – after discussing payment – at a bar in Tokyo’s Kabukicho nightlife district in August 2024, reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
According to Japanese media outlet Kyodo News, the 58-year-old’s sentence will be suspended for five years. This means he does not go to jail unless he commits another crime within the five-year period. At the end of the suspension period, Shiiki would no longer be subject to the sentence.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year prison sentence, added Kyodo News.
Judge Chikako Murata told Shiiki that he had committed a “vile” crime, adding that he had “taken advantage of the victim’s immaturity and the physical and mental impact cannot be ignored”, according to SCMP.
However, the court deemed the suspended sentence “appropriate”, taking into account that he had apologised to the victim, paid compensation, and promised not to re-offend.
Shiiki had initially denied his crime, but later said in court: “The victim looked more mature than her real age and had feminine charms, so I was tempted.
“In my 58 years of life, it was as if there was a ‘different me’ at that moment,” he added. “I still don’t really understand it, but I take responsibility.”
Mr Yoshihide Tanaka, who runs a drop-in centre for youths in Tokyo, condemned the leniency of Shiiki’s punishmnt.
“That’s nothing. He has completely got away with what he did,” the secretary-general of the Liaison Council Protecting Youths told SCMP.
“And once again, we see the authorities doing nothing to help or support children who find themselves in Kabukicho, and letting the perpetrators go.”
Shiiki’s sentence has also drawn criticism online, with one saying: “It is strange that he only received a suspended sentence for what was a serious sexual crime.
“I can only think that the judge was being considerate because he was a politician. He should be made to reflect on his actions in prison and reformed so that he never commits such a crime again.”
In 2017, legislators revised Japan’s century-old rape law to include harsher penalties and other changes.
The reforms, however, left controversial requirements that prosecutors should prove that either violence or intimidation was involved during the act or that the victim was “incapable of resistance”.
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