JAPAN
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The former head of a church in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, was given a 20-year prison sentence at Kyoto District Court on Tuesday for sexually abusing seven young female congregants.
Presiding Judge Takeshi Uegaki said that the crimes--22 separate charges--committed by Tamotsu Kin, 62, former head of the Central Church of Holy God, were extremely malicious and unprecedented sex offenses. Uegaki also said Kin bore grave criminal responsibility.
The 20-year sentence, which had been demanded by prosecutors, was the maximum imprisonment for a definite term before the Penal Code was revised in January last year.
Sources said the ruling is the first to acknowledge sexual abuse against women aged 13 or older committed by a person who neither used intimidation nor violence.