Two years and six months in prison. ……Take photos of himself rubbing the breasts of a young woman’s corpse, “unbelievable indecency” of a former funeral service employee

≪On February 3, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Takahiko Shinozuka, 42, to two years and six months in prison, with a four-year suspended sentence, after he was arrested and charged with entering the morgue of a funeral home in Ota Ward, Tokyo, several times between 2021 and 2022 with the intent to indecently assault the body of a woman. This is an unbelievable act of brutality committed by a staff member who was in charge of a funeral service where the bereaved family members were able to send off their deceased loved ones peacefully. Yuki Takahashi, who interviewed Shinozuka at his first trial on January 20 and with the bereaved family, wrote an article in the February 10 issue of FRIDAY magazine.

— “What kind of man is this?

Are you saying that everything is due to his illness?

The loud voice of the male prosecutor echoed in the courtroom. The whole story came to light at the first trial of the defendant, Takahiko Shinozuka, 42, held on January 20 at the Tokyo District Court.

The setting was a funeral home in Ota Ward, Tokyo. Shinozuka had sexually touched the bodies of young women who had been laid to rest for the funeral, rubbing their breasts and inserting his fingers into their private parts, and had filmed it with his smartphone.

The series of crimes came to light because of Shinozuka’s voyeuristic photography. In addition to indecent acts on the corpse, he repeatedly took voyeuristic photographs in the women’s restroom at his workplace. According to his opening statement, in October of last year, a guest visited the wedding hall with her child and was told by the child: “There is a mobile phone in the restroom.

There is a cell phone in the restroom.

Shortly thereafter, Shinozuka arrived and said, “It’s mine.

It’s mine.”

The contents of the phone were checked on the spot, and the video of the child who had just used the restroom was found. After being arrested on suspicion of voyeurism, he was also found to have indecently assaulted a corpse while analyzing the phone. He was charged with 25 counts of voyeurism in private restrooms and three counts of trespassing without permission to enter a funeral home to commit indecent acts on a corpse. In other words, he committed indecent acts against the bodies of three women. The actual number of such acts must have been much higher than that, since Shinozuka said that he had been repeatedly taking voyeuristic photographs for the past five years.

Shinozuka said during questioning, “I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to take pictures. It was a spontaneous act.” He explained that he could not stop his inner impulse. He also stated that he was aware that he was doing something wrong, so he did not think about deleting the video. I was aware that I was doing something wrong, so I didn’t think about deleting the videos. I didn’t even look back at them,” he said, defending that the thrill of the voyeurism itself was the purpose of the crime. He also said that he felt he had a “sex addiction,” and that he had been taking medication and participating in a program at a specialist’s clinic. He reiterated, “I didn’t think I would get caught, and even if I did, I didn’t think the story would get this big.

Was he getting worked up because he had been taking voyeuristic photographs for at least five years and had not been arrested? But the prosecutor did not tolerate Shinozuka’s repeated excuses. He said, “I wanted to touch the body of the deceased,” to which Shinozuka responded, “Why would you touch such a place?　Don’t you feel sorry for the deceased, their families, and their bereaved families?　Breasts and parts of the body are nothing more than sexual desires! He pursued the defendant.

I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t stop myself from wanting to touch them.

The prosecutor asked Shinozuka, who had repeatedly committed crimes in the workplace, the opening question.

Shinozuka, a repeat offender in the workplace, has two children with his wife. His wife, who appeared as a witness, said, “He is a devoted father to his children, a serious and gentle man. I never thought he would do such a thing,” she said of Shinozuka. She promised to support him and live with him as his wife without divorcing him.

He said, “I was sorry for my workplace. I will never do this to my family in the future,” Shinozuka vowed at the end of the trial. If he had any feelings for his family, he would know how they would feel if he committed an indecent act on a corpse at a funeral. Nevertheless, from the time of his arrest to the present, he has not sent a letter of apology to the bereaved family, nor has he made contact with them. The funeral service company he worked for, while stating that “we are in the midst of a trial, so there is nothing we can tell you,” made no comment when contacted by our reporter, but responded, “We are dealing with the bereaved family with all sincerity.

The mother of the bereaved family, however, is angry with Shinozuka and the funeral home, saying, “I contacted the funeral home when I learned of the arrest, but the funeral home had not contacted me until then.

Shinozuka repeatedly said, “I didn’t think the story would get this big. I wonder if the day will ever come when he realizes how much he has done that cannot be undone.

From the February 10, 2023 issue of “FRIDAY