Male Childcare Worker Sexually Assaults Woman in Her Own Apartment

In front of a train station late at night when the streets were deserted. The man started following a woman on her way home. When she entered her apartment, he passed through the auto-locking door with her and rode in the elevator with her. Immediately after they got off the elevator, the man committed an indecent act.

 

By December 3, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Nerima Police Station had arrested Shiro Tanaka, 21, a nursery school teacher living in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of indecent assault.

“The alleged incident occurred late at night on August 7 this year. She must have been his favorite type. Tanaka followed a woman in her 20s, whom he had never met, from near a train station for about 10 minutes, and entered an apartment in Nerima Ward, where she lived. He allegedly touched the woman on the premises.”

“When the woman violently resisted, the suspect ran and fled. The security camera footage led to the arrest of Tanaka. The suspect denied part of the crime, saying, “I followed her and entered her apartment for the purpose of taking voyeuristic pictures. I touched her clothes, but I did not commit any indecent act.””

Threatening her with a knife saying, “Don’t make a fuss!”

 

There has been an increase in the number of incidents in which women are followed late at night and sexually assaulted in their apartments and other locations. The following are some of the recent cases.

In July 2022, A, a company employee in his 30s, was arrested on suspicion of forcible sexual intercourse and violation of the Firearms Control Law. He found a woman in her 20s returning home from the train station at dawn, looking tired. When the woman entered the apartment, A entered inside before the door closed. With a knife he was carrying, he threatened her, “Don’t make a fuss!” and repeatedly committed indecent acts on the terrified woman, who was unable to move.

In April 2023, a male model B in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault. Late at night, he followed a woman in her 20s who was going home from a station in Tokyo. When she entered a deserted alley, he is alleged to have suddenly embraced her from behind and touched her. When the woman screamed, B ran away. B had been arrested before in a similar case.

How can we protect ourselves from this kind of crime? A reporter for a national newspaper, who has covered a number of similar cases, said, “First of all, don’t listen to music on your smartphone while walking at night. In many cases, people are so focused on their phones that they don’t notice that they are being followed. If you are with a stranger at an entrance or in an elevator and he/she tries to get off on the same floor, tell him/her that you have forgotten something and leave the place. If the stranger comes to the front of your room, you are at the mercy of the criminal.”

“Even if you are not a young woman, be careful at night. If you return home late at night, take a cab if possible, even if it is a short distance. Middle-aged and older people can be victims of purse-snatching on dark, deserted streets. Carrying a security buzzer may also be effective. Recently, some smartphones are equipped with a crime prevention function, so we recommend using them.”

One of the characteristics of many of the perpetrators of late-night indecent assaults is that they have other crimes to commit.