Photo/Illutration The building housing the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A former nursery school teacher was given a 14-year prison sentence on Nov. 14 for committing lewd acts against girls in his care at facilities where he worked.

The Tokyo District Court convicted Nagumi Osada, 27, of committing indecent acts against seven children aged 3 to 6 inside closets and other secluded spaces between September 2021 and December 2023 at two certified nursery schools where he worked.

It said that he also filmed some of the lewd acts with his smartphone.

Presiding Judge Hideki Murohashi condemned Osada’s acts as “extremely despicable,” noting that the victims were unable to understand the sexual intent or resist.

“The traumatic memories may negatively impact the victims’ future well-being,” he said.

Taking into account the parents’ lament that their children had suffered “wounds that will never fade from their hearts,” the ruling said, “The harm occurred at nursery schools where parents should have felt their children were safe and their anguish is beyond comprehension.”

Although Osada admitted to the charges of non-consensual sexual acts and other offenses and apologized, the court concluded that “the criminal responsibility is very serious.”

‘LAND MINE IN A SMALL BODY’

Osada became a nursery school teacher with the intention of “taking over his father’s nursery school.” But he secretly collected large amounts of child pornography.

In court, he said that he committed the indecent acts because he “wanted to do what was shown in the videos.”

“I knew I had to stop them, but my mind and body were completely at odds, and I lost control,” the defendant said.

Osada added as the prospect of taking over his father’s nursery school had become more realistic, he felt “under pressure.”

He was dismissed from his father’s nursery school and said that he would no longer work in a job involving children.

In court, the victims’ parents listened to the defendant’s statements from behind a partition and expressed the severity of the harm he caused.

After the incident, a girl victim, who had told her mother that Osada had called her over and “put something in her mouth,” began saying “Stop it” in her sleep.

“Why did my 5-year-old daughter have to go through something like this?” the mother said. “I’ve heard sexual crimes described as the ‘murder of the soul,’ and I believe that’s exactly what it is.”

Another parent expressed fears that her daughter might develop a post-traumatic stress disorder as she grows up, saying, “It’s like a land mine has been planted in her small body.”

Osada apologized, saying, “I’m truly sorry,” and admitted, “I was a despicable criminal.”

He showed no reaction as the court handed down the prison sentence.

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