Photo/Illutration A woman who was sexually assaulted when she was a minor says the statute of limitations should be abolished in such cases. (Misuzu Tsukue)

OSAKA--A court here on Oct. 15 handed a five-year prison sentence to a 49-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, rejecting his argument that the statute of limitations in the case had expired.

The trial of the Osaka-based photographer raised questions about whether time limits should continue to be imposed on prosecuting sex crimes against minors, considering the victims are often reluctant to come forward.

Presiding Judge Takao Sato of the Osaka District Court said in his ruling: “The victim could not tell anybody what happened and has suffered severe pain both mentally and physically. It has also created many problems in her daily life.”

Prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term.

According to the ruling, the man sexually assaulted the daughter of his girlfriend repeatedly from around July 2010 until April 2012. The girl was a junior high school student at the time and lived with her mother and the photographer.

The victim reported the sexual assaults to Osaka prefectural police in February 2018. In July that year, the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office charged the man with violating the Child Welfare Law.

The time limit for prosecution on this charge is seven years.

The main point of dispute during the trial was when the last assault had occurred.

The man insisted he did not have sex with the minor after July 2011, and his lawyers thus argued that the statute of limitations had expired and the case should be dismissed.

But Sato pointed out that the victim moved out of the home and started living with her biological father in summer 2012 after telling him: “I want to die. Please help me.”

“It is believed that the crime continued until the victim made her decision to move out,” Sato said.

The defense team also questioned the credibility of the victim’s testimony and argued that prosecutors did not specify “the last date of the crime.”

The court dismissed the claims, saying, “It is natural for a victim to be unable to specify dates of a crime that was committed on a daily basis.”

After the ruling, the victim said: “For a long time, I had to fight against the thought that I wanted to die. It took time to decide to report (the crime) to police. I hope the statute of limitations will be abolished for sex crimes.”

According to Spring, an association that supports victims of sex crimes, there is no statute of limitations for sex crimes in Britain.

In Germany, if the victim is a minor, the statute of limitations is temporarily suspended until the victim becomes 30 years old, the association said.

In Japan, a panel of experts set up under the central government discussed the possibility of extending or abolishing the statute of limitations in cases in which a victim is younger than 18 years old.

Talks were held from 2014 to 2015, but no decision was reached.

(This article was written by Misuzu Tsukue and Chinami Tajika.)