Tokyo prosecutors seek six-year term in case involving Thai girl
Masayuki Hosono’s defence argues that the age check was delegated to a former parlour manager, with Tokyo District Court due to rule on 15 September.
- Tokyo prosecutors have requested a six-year prison sentence and a 2 million yen fine for Masayuki Hosono, a 52-year-old former massage parlour operator.
- Hosono is charged with violating child welfare laws for allegedly forcing a 12-year-old Thai girl to provide sexual services.
- The defense claims Hosono is innocent, arguing that age verification was delegated to a manager, while prosecutors state he could have easily checked the girl's passport.
- The girl's mother has been sentenced in Thailand to seven and a half years in prison on charges including human trafficking related to the case.
Tokyo District Court is due to deliver its ruling on 15 September in the case of Masayuki Hosono, the former operator of a Tokyo massage parlour who faces charges including a child welfare law violation.
Prosecutors have requested a six-year prison term and a fine of 2 million yen for the 52-year-old over allegations involving a Thai girl who was 12 at the time.
Hosono’s defence maintains that he is innocent.
In its closing statement, it argued that he was not responsible because the recruitment interview and age verification had been entrusted to a 39-year-old Thai woman.
She formerly managed the parlour in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward and has been indicted on the same charges.
Prosecutors focused on the girl’s passport during Thursday’s hearing.
They argued that it offered Hosono a straightforward way to verify her age, despite her mother’s assertion that the child was her 20-year-old sister.
The indictment places the alleged offences between June and August last year and accuses Hosono of forcing the girl to provide sexual services to male customers and himself without confirming her age.
Condemning the alleged conduct, prosecutors argued: “Sexual exploitation cannot be eradicated as long as people like the defendant continue to create an environment to have children work.”
No human trafficking indictment followed against Hosono.
Although the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office suspected that he had purchased the girl from her mother, it determined that proving Hosono had paid money to the mother would be difficult.
Proceedings were also brought against the girl’s mother in Thailand.
Thai prosecutors accused her of leaving her daughter at the massage parlour and indicted her on charges including human trafficking.
A Bangkok court sentenced her in June this year to seven years and six months in prison.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
