Police in Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, have arrested three men on suspicion of sexually assaulting two women and robbing them after spiking their drinks with sleeping pills last year.
Police said Shin Tomozane, 31, and two other men, conspired to put sleeping pills in the drinks of two women in their 20s on Jan 16-17, 2023, Kyodo News reported. The suspects took them to Tomozane’s residence where they sexually assaulted them and stole 26,000 yen in cash.
According to police reports, the two women went to a bar with the men and then to a karaoke parlor where they continued consuming alcohol. One of the women vomited after drinking the spiked beverage and became unconscious. After that, the men took the women to Tomozane’s apartment.
© Japan Today
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smithinjapan
Not to worry -- these guys can just do like the soccer player and Abe's friend and sue the women for their own arrest and charges.
GillislowTier
Been spiked at least twice while living in Japan, absolutely awful experience. Thankfully I’m a man so I wasn’t the target but it’s scary knowing others were.
hate to stereotype but so many guys seem to go for the get them drunk to the point they can’t walk, like it’s the way to do it. Owning a bar and having to talk people out of trying to abscond with others who clearly can’t take care of themselves is a multi time a week thing.
be careful out there if you don’t know the person and never take drinks from strangers, male or female.
masterblaster
@Roy
The women were given sleeping pills.
masterblaster
@Roy
Well, according to the article
One of the women vomited after drinking the spiked beverage and became unconscious.
TokyoLiving
To jail scumbags..
shogun36
well.
snip snip snip
the end
girl_in_tokyo
GaijinjlandToday 09:17 am JST
There likely are details missing in the story because what gets published here is only from the section of the police report that the police have given to the press. There is nothing nefarious going on; it's simply all the info they are able to release or all that the reporter could fit into the tiny word limit they were given. You can always google this in Japanese if you want to know more.
The same way that you know you have been drinking - headache, nausea, other symptoms. And if you suspect you were drugged you can get a test that will find the drug in your blood.
If you don't know anything about the girl, then you should probably call the police and let them take care of it. I have done that on a few occasions where I was either with someone I had just met in a bar, or I saw someone on the street who was too drunk to walk. If you do know them, then sure, you can take them to your place or call their parent/friend to come and get them.
You may not remember much when roofied, but you will know - believe me when I say women don't wake up after that kind of experience and not realize they have been taken advantage of in their unconscious state and raped.
masterblaster
I'm not sure if this law exists in Japan. Does anyone know?
In my home country if staff at a restaurant or bar or any other place keep serving to a person inebriated and that person after leaving the establishment injures someone, the staff who continued serving can also be held liable.
Surely the staff saw three men carrying out of the place unconscious women. Did the staff do anything? I feel like if it was me I would have intervened.
Mark
I'm sure you'll agree though nothing is worse than rape.
kohakuebisu
This is far worse than Itoh, the footballer. The people selling date rape drugs should also heavily punished, using undercover operations to catch them.
Mark
Yes, most people understand how having a 99.9% conviction rate means that based on (often forced) confessions there is a very high rate of innocent people being convicted, but what a lot of people don't realise is that since prosecutors only take cases where they 'believe' they can get a conviction, it means a lot of guilty people go free in Japan (also contributing to the low crime rates).
daikaka
The chances of them getting indicted or having to pay any penalties is next to zero. The hurdles is too high to get that charge through the courts so I doubt the prosecutors will try.
Will see some 1 paragraph article about charges being dropped in a few months and they'll be back doing it again.
HopeSpringsEternal
Japan's definitely losing its "SAFE" reputation, seems Covid, inflation and general economic failures all at play...
Mark
Yes, for years now people visiting Japan or staying have been warned about the widespread problem of drink spiking.
Many embassies have a warning about this in Japan especially Tokyo.
U.S. Embassy warns of spiked drinks in Tokyo bars | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52I2BI/
Beware of Drink Spiking in Japan Bars: True Stories and Tips for Staying Safe (japaninsides.com)
https://japaninsides.com/beware-of-drink-spiking-in-japan-bars-true-stories-and-tips-for-staying-safe-37662
Gaijinjland
Why did it take over a year? Somethings gotta be missing. How do they know they were drugged? Not advocating assault but when I was younger I’d go drinking/ nomihodai karaoke with girls all the time. They get drunk, throw up, miss the last train anyway and fall asleep on your couch/ bed with absolutely no sexual assault in my case. If they pass out drunk and you don’t know where they live are you supposed to leave them on the sidewalk? Totally innocent and some girls were into me and some were not as is the way of life. And if you take full advantage of karaoke nomihodai you’re not gonna remember what happened to your money that you probably spent and forgot about.
Daninthepan
Just the tip of an enormous iceberg, I fear.
Newgirlintown
They should get life in prison for this.
owzer
Drugging to have sex is disgusting. Lock 'em up.