Society | Apr 11

Ex-NHK reporter pleads not guilty to alleged serial rapes

A former reporter for Japanese public broadcaster NHK charged with raping three women pleaded not guilty Tuesday at the first hearing of his trial.

Yasutaka Tsurumoto, 29, told the Yamagata District Court that he "did not do anything" and that all of the allegations he faces "are wrong."

Defense lawyers cast doubt on the credibility of DNA analysis performed on samples left at the three crime scenes.

According to the indictment, Tsurumoto broke into the apartments of the women in their 20s and sexually assaulted them in three separate incidents -- in Yamagata, northeastern Japan, in February 2016 and in Yamanashi, west of Tokyo, in October 2014 and December 2013. Two of the three women were injured during the alleged rapes.

Prosecutors said the former reporter raped one of the women whose underwear he had earlier stolen from her home while she was away after getting to know her during his reporting activities in 2014.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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