A 17-year-old youth who was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault, has been taken back into custody after he escaped from a hospital in Hakodate, Hokkaido, on Wednesday night.
According to police, the suspect complained after his arrest that he was not feeling well and was taken to a hospital, Sankei Shimbun reported. Although he was handcuffed and bound to a police officer by a cord around his waist, he managed to break free and fled with the handcuffs still on at around 4:20 p.m.
About 200 police officers were mobilized to search for the fugitive who was barefoot and had no money on him. Police said he turned himself in at Hakodate Chuo police station just past 1 a.m. Thursday, accompanied by a female friend.
The suspect was arrested on Wednesday morning for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl in a park on Feb 8, but claims the act was consensual.
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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sensei258
When will Japan change their legal system so people like this who commit serious crimes get the punishment they deserve, regardless of age? Rape and assault at 17, he will probably be sent to his room for a week without his playstation.
Yubaru
How in the world did he manage this one? I mean really, must have been one poorly trained cop.
goldorak
It would almost be funny if we weren't talking about a serious crime. Seriously though how is that even possible? Handcuffed and bound to a copper, manages to break free and out of hospital (I assume the said copper ran after him?) and 200 officers failed to catch him.
And to add insult to injury, the 17yo turned himself in! Has to be one of the worst and most shambolic display of incompetence I have ever seen.
pointofview
If it was consensual, why was he arrested? Does that mean that a female can say it wasnt consensual the male get arrested and if the guy says it was consensual hell still get arrested? Interesting. Sounds like inequality to me.
Aly Rustom
A feat worthy of a ninja
lomae
He is a suspect. Presumably, they arrested him based on the evidence (report) from the female. Though less common, it isn't inequality, as the opposite situation could also happen (guy reports rape).
sir_bentley28
A young Houdini?
Yubaru
He was detained for questioning. JT has an annoying habit of using the word "arrested" after a suspect is taken into custody.
He would not be officially "arrested" until the police are ready to charge him with a specific crime and turn him over to the prosecutors office for trial.
Why are you convicting him before he has had a trial?
sensei258
You should know, I don't have the ability to convict anyone, since I am not part of the judicial system here, and my opinion doesn't matter to Japans "justice system". Like my post states "people who commit serious crimes" not innocent people falsely accusedm
DaDude
If you know you are innocent, be adamant about it and fight for your right. Running away won't lead to your favor.
I remember back in the days when the police surrounded me in the parking lot and took me in. They went on to tell me that my license plates were from another car and they think that I stole the plates and put them on my car for some apparent reason. I was irate and put my foot down and said why on earth would I do something so stupid. Take my fingerprints, call anybody you want because this is not right. So they backed off and took my fingerprints and let me go. Eventually they found my plates on a different person's car. The moral of the story is keeping silent, acting nonchalant or running away doesn't look very good for innocence.
Dre Hund
I wonder who "roped" him into turning himself in. So, in terms of presuming him guilty, he hasn't helped his case by lying about not feeling well. Of course, now....... GUILTY.
Confusius
Unless you are in Japan and are wrongly accused of groping, then even lawyers say running is the better option. ;) From an article that was on here 2013:
Overall I agree with you, but unfortunately there have been cases where being innocent and being adamant about it didn't help much in the beginning. It's a shame that running before getting caught might be the better option sometimes even if you're innocent, but running after you've already been caught is stupid...
A movie called それでもボクはやってない (or I Just Didn't Do It" in English) illustrates what can happen even despite being adamant about being innocent. Sadly it's based on what really happened to one guy and in other cases people broke at some point when they were interrogated and confessed to crimes they didn't comit (just look up the case of Keiko Aoki and Tatsuhiro Boku). And there has been another case where one guy has at first been convicted despite being innocent (and a video apparently showing as much) http://web.archive.org/web/20151025030739/http://www.sponichi.co.jp/society/news/2014/07/15/kiji/K20140715008569070.html