Japanese court jails man after rare public accusation of rape

A Japanese court handed down an eight-year jail sentence on Tuesday to the father of a woman who publicly accused him of rape, a rare case in the country where many victims stay anonymous.

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Koji Daimon was convicted of raping his daughter Riho Fukuyama in 2016, when she was in high school.

He admitted to the act but maintained his innocence, arguing that “my daughter was in a state where she could have resisted”.

In the ruling, judge Toshiaki Umezawa said that “given that the victim continues to suffer physical and mental distress to this day... the consequences must be deemed grave”.

Fukuyama says the rapes began when she was in junior high school, when her mother was not at home.

Fukuyama went public in March last year following the arrest of her father.