Police in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, have arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of sexually molesting a 32-year-old woman at his home gym in August.
The incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Aug 8, Kyodo News reported. Police said the man, who is a personal trainer, is accused of touching the woman's breasts and kissing her on the forehead while she was doing a barbell bench press.
Police said the man has denied the charge and quoted him as saying he may have touched the woman while helping her with the barbell, but there was no intent to sexually molest her.
After the incident, the woman filed a complaint with police.
© Japan Today
13 Comments
Newgirlintown
You just have to hope there’s camera footage so that this can be proven or otherwise. That’s the ‘black box’ that Shiori Ito talks about.
Asiaman7
Absent any evidence, I would find her story more trustworthy — as long as she was not having some other bitter disagreement with this fellow.
girl_in_tokyo
NewgirlintownToday 05:11 pm JST
No, that's not what "black box" refers to. In her own words,
Shiori said, "There are many elements that can be described as a 'black box' in investigations and judicial proceedings related to sex crimes because nothing is disclosed to the victim. I hope through the civil lawsuit that details of those elements are brought to light and that it serves as a catalyst to think about the current judicial system." Cit. https://en.opentheblackbox.jp/english
girl_in_tokyo
Asiaman7Today 05:22 pm JST
There is evidence. First-hand witness account IS evidence. However, for conviction there needs to be a trial so that the evidence can be corroborated and the case proven.
Right, because we wimmens just love falsely accusing men of rape after getting into a disagreement.
Really love how you guys always want more and more evidence before you'll believe a rape happened, but you need none at all to accuse women of lying about rape.
Redemption
GUILTY
Mark
A she said he said case, NO vids!? it can't be proven.
OssanAmerica
No she is not a "witness". She is the alleged victim, the complainant, the plaintiff. Evidence is what would substantiate her allegation. Likewise, the charged Trainer is not a "witness" to the act not having occured.
Redemption
He probably tried to teabag her while pretending to spot her bench press. Disgusting pervert.
travelbangaijin
He should definately had cameras running to protect himself if that was his home gym with clients over
Sam Watters
It does happen. I can give you a list of prominent cases if you would like to see it. One pro baseball player is currently in Japan because a woman falsely accused him of sexual and then bragged about it on social media.
Redemption
Double guilty!
albaleo
But there were at least two first-hand witnesses. One says one thing, the other says something different.
I understand that men are generally more violent, oppressive, and sexually violent than women. But "generally" doesn't cover all situations. The general legal rule is that evidence requires corroboration. Sexual assault is probably the most difficult to prove.
This probably sounds pathetic, but until we have some kind of all-seeing, kindly, and strong guardian AI, we all need to be careful, and women especially.
njca4
If he's guilty of doing what she says he has done then I'm guessing there could be other women coming forward with similar claims.