OSAKA, (Japan): A former Japanese prosecutor who accused her boss of rape said on Friday (Nov 6) her "dignity was shattered into pieces" as she recounted the alleged assault at a high-profile trial.
Few women in Japan speak out about sexual assault, but the ex-prosecutor, who uses the pseudonym Hikari, came forward in 2024 to accuse her boss of raping her six years earlier.
The trial began in October 2024 but was halted after Kentaro Kitagawa -- who served as head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office at the time of the alleged rape -- withdrew his initial admission of guilt and said the sex was consensual.
After hearings resumed last week following a two-year pause, Hikari recalled how she froze with fear as she was allegedly raped, and thought: "He might kill me."
"I couldn't move. I couldn't ask for help," she told the courtroom from behind a partition, while audibly sobbing.
Hikari said her alleged attacker had "stripped her of her dignity as a prosecutor, as a woman and as a mother".
"My dignity was shattered into pieces," she told the courtroom packed with reporters and members of the public.
She said that Kitagawa did not stop even though she told him she felt sick and wanted to go home.
- 'Kept quiet' -
Kitagawa told the court last week that sex took place but repeated his not-guilty plea and "denied that she was unable to resist."
After being detained for more than two years, he was released on bail last month after paying a bond of 10 million yen ($63,000).
Hikari has previously said she was not used to drinking strong alcohol and lost her memory halfway through an office gathering in 2018.
The next thing she knew, she said, she was in Kitagawa's home and was being raped.
Hikari said she kept quiet after the alleged rape and that Kitagawa had pleaded with her not to go public, saying it would be a damaging scandal for the prosecutor's office and even threatening to harm himself.
Hikari said she experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that her mental health worsened after she learned in 2024 that people close to Kitagawa, especially an assistant prosecutor -- who Hikari says is his lover -- had spread malicious rumours about her.
She has repeatedly requested an independent probe into harassment within prosecutor's offices across the country.
Officials have rejected that request and instead announced the launch in June of their own internal investigation.
Her request for measures to ensure a safe working environment was also rejected, prompting her to officially resign in August. - AFP
