A 47-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday, after being found guilty of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law and the Child Welfare Law when he forced his stepdaughter to engage in prostitution in February last year.
According to the Wakayama Family Court, the stepfather had his stepdaughter, then 15 years old, engage in indecent behavior with a man in a hotel in Wakayama City in February last year, and had the man deposit money in the stepfather’s bank account. The court said the stepfather told the girl her cell phone bill was too high and demanded she go out and make money, even if that meant selling her body.
Judge Shigeyu Sugimura said in handing down the ruling: “All I can say it is extremely despicable and brutal for a parent to treat their child as a money-maker and outlet for sexual satisfaction.”
The Wakayama Family Court sentenced the girl’s 37-year-old mother to three years and six months in prison in December last year for her role in forcing the girl to engage in prostitution.
© News reports
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neverknow2
7 years for CHILD PROSTITUTION??
He got off very easy
timorborder
I have a serious question, WHO MAKES UP THESE STORIES? Just when you think you have heard everything (a couple of week's ago it was the woman trying to blackmail somebody vis-a-vis supposed relations with female student's at their son's school), something even worse comes up? WTF! And the mother was a party to this crime. This is unbelievable (then again, there will be something even worse next week).
BBLeo
Sexism is growing up due to shortage of money. Everyone is trying to make something for living. Poor and rich are now chasing the wealth. Mother of the girl and stepfather should be sentenced for at least ten years and should' have any further contact with this girl. Why she didn't report them immediately instead of waiting for so long?
noborito
hope he took her phone away from her
neverknow2
Because the police are corrupt. Shortage of money. Trying to make a living.
tmarie
Wait, he told her to get a job and she went and sold herself. Isn't she old enough to think that maybe sex with old men isn't the best job out there? Probably the best paying for her age but come on...
"The court said the stepfather told the girl her cell phone bill was too high and demanded she go out and make money, even if that meant selling her body."
saborichan
I remember this story a few weeks ago.
What I don't get is why the sentence for child prostitution is 7 years, same as the murder rap we had reported yesterday. I'm not saying the former isn't serious, rather that the latter seems like it needs a much longer sentence.
saborichan
*from a few weeks ago.
nath
Well, now she's virtually an orphan. I wonder how she will support herself?
tmarie
NOtginger as bad as that thought it I admit I laughed at it.
bamboohat
poor kid. parents forced her to sell herself, then they both get put in prison. What's going to happen to her?
telecasterplayer
Then why the skimpy sentence, Judge Sugimura? I would think that double-digits would have been in order. And three years for the mom? Wow.
nath
1 why the mother was sentenced to 3.5 years &father 7 ?
2 " The court said the stepfather told the girl her cell phone bill was too high and demanded she go out and make money, even if that meant selling her body" - sorry but it's not mean forcing into prostituate she had choices his advocate must change his job.
fds
did he force her? from this it sound like she did it of her own free will. not enough detail. also, what about the customer? was he procecuted? well, at least she pays her bills!
hannari
This story needs more details.... if I lost my job in the recent haken head chopping crisis, and had a daughter that brought me a cell phone bill of, say, a million yen... I might just say the same thing.
Okinawamike
FDS:
If she did it on her own free will, why would the money be deposit in her Step-Fathers account?
She was forced and he took the money. We have a name for those type guys in the US. They are called pimps. You don't think this dirtbag would start to think, easy money, well it's not just the cell phone bill, you need clothes so do another trick, wait you wanted to eat also? Let me set this up.
Mom knew and now is paying for that.
Nessie
It's not just the sentence for child prostitution; it includes the penalties for child abuse.
dr_jones
Poor Kid! Now who should take care of her?
pointofview
But...the sex industry is completely out of control in japan and the police, politicians and judges know this. So why aren`t they controlling it better overall in the first place? I guess this ruling makes it look like they are actually doing something.
Dennis Bauer
i wonder how much her phone bill was
PaizuriSan
いい ポイント!!
Apsara
There's a possibility she has family members who would take her in. It's not too much of a stretch, is it?
Yelena
I am proud to Japanese laws pretecting the Child's rights, it looks like they really works. In Russia it is absolutly useless, as a result childreen are unpretected.Bravo!
sensei258
At least they got some jail time. What about the people who kill children and get suspended sentences?
grafton
Only working from the above story try this for an idea. The girl simply wanted rid of her parents so set the whole thing up, paid money into the stepfather’s account & then informed on the two of them. I don’t think it’s true but given the information in the above story it could be. But then this is JT, simple stories for…………..
MeanRingo
7 years? Isn't that also the penalty for murder in this country? Hmmmmm. Perhaps that is only for murdering a family member.
Molenir
All I can say here is, that he should be on his knees thanking his lawyers and the judge for not being given more time. Given his crime, he certainly deserves it. And since the mother obviously knew, and chose not to protect her daughter, she deserves what the father got as well.
Apart from Murder, there is very little else worse then child prostitution. Think both parents got away with a light sentence for this hideous crime. Just glad the girl had the strength to report it to police.
oppaiSAN
What surprises me is that the perp hasn't been subject to any legal ramifiactions after the inital child ramification. Unless its not in this clip like suggested above. Need more info...
Smythe
Pretty hard to back one side or the other. Especially the way children are using their cell phones, to Credit Cards then asking (or should I say "asking" or should I say "demanding" the parents to pay the full amount which is also looked upon as what the children are "asking" the parents.
In turn it is pointing that the parents are loosing control of their childrens doings.
helloklitty
When are we going to hear how much the cell phone bill was?
toadold
Children who have been sexually abused by family members are difficult to take care of. Child Protective Services in Texas has been having a lot of problems with it. A regular foster parent setting can't offer enough counseling and treatment to get them back to normal children. If they are lucky they get placed into specialty children's homes. It is kind of like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome for a lot of them.
the_sicilian
What gets me is the typical J-court disparity in the sentence. Mom gets half the sentence. Why?
And the 15 year old is living where? And has to pay for her phone how? Hmmm
Ciao
Speed
Why is it that parents get 7 YEARS for murdering their child and get 7 YEARS for pimping their 15 year old girl?
I'm sorry, but a little baby being brutally beaten to death because "it was crying" is a much more heinous crime.
Triumvere
Well, hope you're happy. Picked up a little extra cash in exchange for 7 year of your life. You'll be 64 when you get out. Hope it was worth it!
Triumvere
Edit: 54
PepinGalarga
i dont think you would get 7 years for pimpin' in the USA... there's the three strikes thing, right? i assume its this guy first strike. got away lucky.