Photo/Illutration A rally held in Tokyo in June 2019 to protest sexual violence (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling that sentenced a 50-year-old father to 10 years imprisonment for “quasi-forcible intercourse” with his daughter, a decision that his victim applauded as bringing her long nightmare to an end.

The ruling by the Third Petty Bench of the Supreme Court was dated Nov. 4.

Women's groups around the nation erupted in outrage after a district court in March 2019 exonerated the father, forcing the Justice Ministry to consider establishing a provision that would make all non-consensual sex a crime.

The primary focus of the case before the Supreme Court was whether the daughter, 19 years old at the time, was in any fit state to put up physical or psychological resistance, one of the conditions required to establish the crime of quasi-forcible intercourse.

The Okazaki branch of the Nagoya District Court recognized that the daughter had not consented to being violated, but disputed prosecutors' assertions she was a victim of violence and under the psychological control of her father due to the prolonged period of abuse.

At the same time, however, the lower court ruled that the daughter had resisted her father’s advances in the past, meaning she exerted some control over her actions. That led the district court branch to rule that reasonable doubt remained about certifying her as being in a state of “not being able to put up any resistance” and holding “extreme fear” toward her father.

After prosecutors appealed that decision, the Nagoya High Court took issue with the district court's interpretation of total control of the daughter’s personality. It also noted that the lower court had erred in not realizing she had been sexually abused by her father from her second year of junior high school.

Relying on testimony by psychiatrists, the high court said the crime of quasi-forcible intercourse was established because the daughter was unable to put up any resistance due to the repeated acts of sexual abuse at the hands of her father.

“It was a very long process,” the daughter said in a statement issued after the Supreme Court ruling. “Every day was a struggle for me. But it has finally come to an end. I express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have supported me.”

The Okazaki branch ruling in March 2019 came at about the same time as three other rulings by courts that found rape defendants not guilty. The series of rulings triggered street protests with women and their supporters holding up flowers in calling for an end to sexual abuse.

The Justice Ministry in March 2020 established a panel of experts to discuss whether a new crime of non-consensual sex should be established. One topic being discussed is to delete the condition of being in a state of not being able to put up any resistance and simply making it a crime if no consent was given.

“We are seeking a change in the current situation where there are vast differences in decisions by judges,” said Jun Yamamoto, who heads the sexual abuse victims’ group Spring and is a member of the experts’ panel. “But beyond just revising the law, there is also a need to spread awareness in society that consensual sex is paramount because it means respecting the will of the other person.”

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