Prosecutors drop indictment against man over sexually assaulting woman in hotel

Probably because the man settle it already with the woman using money. Usually with these cases, the women do not want to attract too much attention and appear on court.

@Ingvar

So, you know she made a false allegation based on those four short sentences which go in to no detail?

Females proven to have made false accusations should be prosecuted! This (females making false accusations) isn't just a phenomena in Japan. They (females making false accusations) are putting in danger real victims of sexual assault, making them less likely to come forward with the complaint and making prosecutors less likely to follow up on complaints. Not to mention wasting the time of police, i.e. wasting tax-payers money.

The fact that the prosecutors have dropped the case does NOT mean the accusation was false.

I think Hiro's comment on why it was dropped is likely correct, or at least some variation close to it is.

If you know anything about Japan, Hiro is correct.

keep on promoting people who can't manage their urge. You take advantage of a drunk and they drop down the case. Good luck to the next victim.

There are two possibilities...

a. Insufficient evidence

b. Cash was paid to the victim to drop the case.

I would put the farm on b.

“As is customary” or, . . . “As is cowardly” ??

*- “**As is customary, prosecutors gave no reason why they decided not to proceed with the case.”*

During the Olympics, an Uzbek worker was arrested for sexual assault, but the case was dropped.

Or, “usually” the victim in Japan is humiliated early on in the “investigation” process and then, is coerced/convinced that taking on non-prosecutorial “alternative” would serve “justice”, both quickly and “equitably” ??

- @Hiro 7:04am: “probably because the man settle it with the woman using money.”

Well, she would also have known that;

A) Her body had just been physically violated by that stranger, and

B) She had not consented to that happening.

Right and if that was the case, the prosecutors would have not dropped the charges.

But I see you were in the room and know what happened, thanks for sharing that too!

If you weren’t there, you don’t know what happened…it’s that simple

Her allegations could also have been a knee-jerk reaction to waking up in a hotel room with a guy she didnt know too.

Her allegations could also have been a knee-jerk reaction to waking up in a hotel room with a guy she didnt know too.

Well, she would also have known that;

A) Her body had just been physically violated by that stranger, and

B) She had not consented to that happening.

So its not like she was just surprised to find a stranger in the room.

Quick! List at least stories of rape prosecutions in Japan in 2021 where the “victim” was involuntarily paraded out in court and publicly named in Japanese media. (You may use the search feature above). … 2020 ? … 2019 ? Quick answer: “NONE”.

“Usually with these cases, the women do not want to attract too much attention and appear on court.” -

Only the former NHK reporter chose to go public in various media to tell her “Me, Too” story. Japanese society needs to stop allowing victim harassment by police & prosecution and perpetuating the myth that victims will be humiliated in court.

They probably bribed the victim wirh cash to shut her up. Abhorrent. Japan needs to be stricter with these kinds of cases.

Right and if that was the case, the prosecutors would have not dropped the charges.

You don't seem to understand how prosecutors work. They drop cases against people who in all probability did commit the crime they are accused of, all the time. The prosecutors dropping the case is merely a reflection of their calculation that owing to deficiencies in the evidence they are able to collect they would be unlikely to secure a conviction at trial. When a rape victim decides they don't want to testify, as is often the case, the prosecutors will often drop the case because the victim's testimony is a key piece of evidence.

Now you might infer that the reason a victim declines to testify is that their complain lacked merit in the first place. That might be the case in some instances, but there are also many other reasons why rape victims don't want to testify, most of which don't involve any deceit on their part.

We have no evidence that she was lying, yet you seem to want to draw that inference for some reason. I don't know why.

But I see you were in the room and know what happened, thanks for sharing that too!

Actually you are the one suggesting things which happened in that room based on no knowledge, not me. There is no basis for speculating that she is lying and was just upset about finding a stranger in her room, that is purely your invention. I'm basing my statements on what is reported in the article.

If what is said in the article is factually accurate, - she was sexually assaulted at a time when she so intoxicated she could not stand up - and I have no reason to believe it is not, then what I said in my previous comment is correct.

Prying a little here, but surely the decision to press charges lies with the prosecutors, not the police? And, in any case, how can the police force her to withdraw her witness statement? On what sanction, if any, is worse than what she had already suffered?

it never reached the prosecutors. The police refused to file the report. First they wanted to involve her family, which is very conservative and she is scared, and then told her that even if they file the report, they may not have enough evidence, and told her that her testimony will not be trustworthy due to her age and mental state. Since she was very young, they convinced her that she should not trouble anyone since she already escaped.

Almost certainly no money was paid to the women. It is very easy to coerce and threaten the victim to drop the charges, and in most cases the police will support you. It is also not uncommon to force the female victim to pay “protection” fee against further assualts or revealing details of assaults to family. One of my friends was not only raped, but kept locked up for several days to be repeatedly raped, despite finally escaping to police, the police forced her to drop all charges because the guy is an upstanding citizen. Even today the perpetrator jokes about it on his SNS.

I think we can all agree that the prosecutors just simply reporting they are dropping charges without explanation is UNEXCEPTABLE!

And, people charges should NEVER, i repeat NEVER be able to throw $$$ at a victim to make crimes go away, this is wrong on so many levels, and should NOT be allowed!!!

Prying a little here, but surely the decision to press charges lies with the prosecutors, not the police? 

Just to chime in, who has the discretion to let a suspect go depends on what stage the investigation is at.

When the police detain a suspect they have a 48 hour window in which they can keep the suspect before they are required to refer them to a prosecutor. During that period the police can decide what they want to do with the suspect (release them or send them to prosecutors).

Once they've made the decision to send them to prosecutors, the police no longer have that discretion, which lies with the prosecutors.

Just pai da monet

Ingvar, there is no indication or reported evidence that this woman made a false allegation.

Having said that, where it is proven that a false allegation has been made, given the very considerable psychological, career, financial and even physical health damage it can cause as great or even greater than a physical assault, then the crime should be treated and punished as severely.

I read the story falsely. Or did I? Was the man or woman so intoxicated as to be hardly able to stand? If the woman was heavily intoxicated and the man took her back to a hotel, that changes my idea of how things went down. If there is evidence she was sexually assaulted, I wish the guy was heavily punished. If it's a case of her not remembering and no evidence of sexual assault, like he only touched her breasts for example, she should be more careful.

Mr KiplingOct. 22 12:53 pm JST

There are two possibilities...

a. Insufficient evidence

b. Cash was paid to the victim to drop the case.

I would put the farm on b.

There is some information missing in this article.

I would say, A+B.

What evidence did she provide to prove the suspicion of being sexually assaulted? - Any injuries or what?

If her case was weak I understand that evidence was insufficient and finally she accepted some money to drop the accusation, regardless if what she claims was true or not.

It's often better as a alleged victim and accuser to accept some 'compensation' money and the case is dropped instead to continue the accusation and finally (maybe, but not sure!) she might win her case after many months but is left with a lot of legal bills.

Not much difference how similar cases are handled elsewhere worldwide, not only in Japan. You pay money to the alleged victim and suddenly there is no victim anymore...Settlement out of court.

RecklessOct. 22 11:32 am JST

As is customary, prosecutors gave no reason why they decided not to proceed with the case.

Justice?

In Japan prosecutors give no reason - and in many other countries they would say, case dropped, settlement out of court which details will not be disclosed.

More or less the same...

While prosecutors of this case gave no reason as to why they decided not to proceed with the case, I believe that it might have been due to the fact that the woman could have possibly been lying about the whole thing. I don’t want to assume she was lying when in reality she might have actually gotten sexually assaulted- because you should always believe the victim first. This article doesn’t give much of anything to work with though, and these are only assumptions or possibilities as to why the charges against the man had been dropped. The words they use throughout the article such as “apparently intoxicated” “suspicion of sexually assaulting” and “allegedly sexually assaulted her” all seem uncertain which doesn’t make for a very confident case. Whether that is because of the lack of evidence, new memories coming to light, or a scheme behind the whole thing, the charges got dropped nonetheless. Wish we knew more about it though, so we could base our opinions off of facts and not just speculation.

A ‘partial’ retraction and correction to the earlier @11:25am posting: Although there have been other, past allegations of sexual assaults and inappropriate behavior by NHK staff( (by an announcer in 2012 on the train; by a fee collector in 2017,…) , the aforementioned “Me, Too” referred to today was concerning the accused, former TBS Washington bureau chief Noriyuki Yamaguchi and the alleged victim, former Thomas/Reuters intern Shiori Ito. Some of the details of the allegation & criminal case status are very similar to the allegations in the story above. -

I wonder how much cash she was paid to drop the charges.

@Stewart Gale

So, you know she made a false allegation

No, I don't but the fact prosecutors dropped the case tells me something. That she agreed to go to a hotel room, (hotel room, not abode) with him also suggests if she was paid off to drop charges, good for her. That was probably her plan. What do you think they were going to a hotel for? To talk? Why couldn't they do that on a park bench where passerby's would intervene in the event of a sexual assault?

Interesting that no one mentions the cause of all of this. The woman was intoxicated. She is an adult. If she couldn't stay sober, she got herself into trouble. Not to excuse the man's behavior, but if you don't lock your door you can expect a stranger to take your valuables.

Alcohol is not worth the risks.

Females proven to have made false accusations should be prosecuted! This (females making false accusations) isn't just a phenomena in Japan. They (females making false accusations) are putting in danger real victims of sexual assault, making them less likely to come forward with the complaint and making prosecutors less likely to follow up on complaints. Not to mention wasting the time of police, i.e. wasting tax-payers money.