A Father of Two Children Admits to Repeated Offenses
Victim's Mother: "No Apology... I Will Not Forgive"
Japanese Court Sentences to 2 Years 6 Months Imprisonment with 4 Years Probation
An employee at a funeral home in Japan was sentenced to probation for sexually molesting the corpse of a teenage girl and filming the act.
Tokyo District Court sentenced former funeral home employee Takahiko Shinozuka (42, male) to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 4-year probation for illegally trespassing to touch the chest of a female corpse placed at the funeral home and secretly filming it with a camera, Nihon TV reported on the 4th (local time).
Japanese local media Nippon TV is reporting on the situation at the time of the crime committed by a funeral home employee. [Photo by Nippon TV]
The court stated, "There were habitual offenses such as repeated obscene acts on the corpse and illegal trespassing," and pointed out, "The root of the crime is quite deep based on a distorted sexual preference."
Previously, Shinozuka illegally trespassed into the place where the female corpse was laid to touch her chest while working at the funeral home, filming and saving the footage on his mobile phone. He also secretly installed and filmed with a hidden camera in the women's restroom inside the funeral home.
Shinozuka admitted to the crime, saying, "I thought I wanted to touch the body of the deceased woman." He added, "I had sexual desires and could not suppress the urge to touch at that time," and "Recently, I enjoyed the thrill of taking photos." It was reported that Shinozuka was a family man with a wife and two children.
The victim’s mother, Ms. A, who learned of this shocking fact one year after her teenage daughter’s death, attended the trial holding her daughter’s portrait. Ms. A said, "This feeling cannot be expressed in words," and shed tears throughout. She reportedly shouted in a trembling voice toward Shinozuka as he left the courtroom, "How did you feel doing such a thing?"
After the trial, Ms. A told reporters, "I don’t know how he felt meeting me every day at the funeral home after doing such a thing to my child," and "The perpetrator has never apologized until now, and he didn’t even greet anyone in the courtroom today. I am very angry. I will never forgive him." She also expressed sorrow, saying, "I am sorry for not protecting my daughter and letting her go through such a thing even after she died."
Ms. A also pointed out that under current Japanese law, there is no provision to punish obscene acts involving sexual molestation of corpses, appealing, "There is a need to revise the law to punish sexual molestation of corpses in the future."
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