Police in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, have arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of sexually molesting a teenage girl as she walked home.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 5:20 p.m. on Thursday. Local media reported that the girl told police a man whom she did not know came up behind her and groped her buttocks, and then ran away.
A police officer patrolling the area heard the girl scream. He ran after the suspect, Rue Sugita, a company employee, and apprehended him. Police said Sugita was carrying a knife but the girl was not injured.
Police said Sugita has hinted at his involvement in another incident on Wednesday, in which a woman in her 20s was threatened with a knife by a stranger wearing a mask in the parking lot of a commercial facility and subjected to indecent acts.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
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bund
How traumatic for the girl.
Several Japanese women I know experienced similar incidents as children. I fear that the cases reported in the news represent only 1 or 2% of what actually happens, as most girls remain silent out of embarrassment and shame.
To all the mums and dads out there: please, don't let your children go home alone, regardless of what other kids are doing or the common belief that Japan is safe for kids to walk around alone. This belief is dangerous. Children are not safe walking alone anywhere in the world where there are strangers. Is it worth risking lifelong, hidden trauma?
Concerned Citizen
@bund
Well said. We never have our girl go out alone, neither does she want to.
shogun36
still waiting for that national sexual predators list
Calej
Outlaw porn
TaiwanIsNotChina
I don't think there is a nation on the planet that has done that successfully and certainly not one worth emulating.
Stewart Gale
You can’t blame pornography for sexual crimes. Millions of people look at it and don’t commit any sex crimes.
They should ban the rape/incest themed pornography that is prevalent here though.
That should be a no-brainer.
They won’t though, just like they won’t introduce a sex offenders’ register.
I don’t understand why.
Michael Corleone
well done the police!!
Marlon Brando
Stunned that so many people downvoted such a sincere and accurate post. WTF people?!
We don't allow our teenage children to walk alone in Kanagawa. As long as they are in a group or with a few friends.