<figure id="attachment_469474" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-469474" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2dc67020"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/7122440cdfa5c0b8ccf4e06a7e015c53.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-469474" class="wp-caption-text">How a man claiming to be a medium tricked three women: &#8230;&#8230; (Image is for reference only)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Sexual intercourse is necessary for spirit exorcism.</h2>
 On May 22, the Tokyo District Court heard the trial of Shinetsu Sato (28 at the time of his arrest), a self-proclaimed medium who is accused of indecent sexual intercourse with a woman under the guise of spirit exorcism.
 According to the indictment and other documents, Sato sent direct messages to a woman on a social networking service,
 I see a living spirit. If you don&#8217;t get rid of them, your life will be in danger.
 If you don&#8217;t get rid of the spirits, your life will be in danger.
 According to the indictment, Sato is alleged to have encouraged the women&#8217;s anxiety by telling them through direct messages on SNS that he could see a live spirit and that their lives would be in danger if they did not get rid of it.
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 So far, three women, Ms. A, Ms. B, and Ms. C, have reported being victimized, and on the day of the trial, a follow-up indictment against Ms. C was filed. Sato sent similar direct messages to a different woman (either A or B woman) than Ms. C.
 In March of last year, he sexually assaulted the woman at an apartment in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, where she lived, saying things like, &#8216;I can&#8217;t exorcise your spirit unless I exorcise you with my body. Ms. C heard about Sato&#8217;s arrest through the news media and consulted the police. Of the three women, Ms. C was the first to be victimized.
 On the day of the arrest, Sato appeared in court wearing a white sweatshirt and white pants. He had brown hair at the time of his arrest, but it looked as if his shaved head had grown long. He looked around the courtroom with his characteristic slit eyes. There was no hint of emotion in his eyes.
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 When asked about the charges against Mr. C., Sato said, &#8220;Before I met Mr. C., I had been negotiating with him about my sexual relationship with him,
 I had agreed to have sexual intercourse with Ms. C before I met her.
 The prosecution denied some of the allegations in the indictment. In his opening statement, the prosecutor read out Sato&#8217;s method of committing the crime.
 The prosecutor read out the defendant&#8217;s modus operandi in his opening statement,
 I can see a living spirit. If you don&#8217;t get rid of the spirit, your life will be in danger.
 At the time, Mr. C had just had his heart broken and was mentally unstable. He was not feeling well and tended to miss work, which led him to believe that a spirit was the cause of his illness. Sato added, &#8220;He was also told by the defendant that he had been sexually active as part of the exorcism,
 He also told her that she needed to have sexual intercourse as part of the exorcism process.
 He then arranged to meet with Sato.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" There were at least three victims."></div>
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<h2>He also borrowed money to buy a 200,000 yen bracelet.</h2>
 They met up with Sato, who lived in Iwate Prefecture, in Sendai, halfway between the Kanto area, where Ms. C. lived. When they arrived at the hotel room, Sato embraced her from behind and pushed her down on the bed,
 After the first sexual act, Sato said, &#8220;I have multiple spirits.
 After the first sexual act, Sato said, &#8220;There are multiple spirits attached to me,&#8221; and they had sexual intercourse three times in total. Ms. C. wanted to get back together with her ex-boyfriend,
 She was told by Sato that &#8220;one of the spirits had a strong attachment to her,&#8221; and that the characteristics of the spirit were similar to her ex-boyfriend&#8217;s. (From Sato&#8217;s testimony read out by the prosecution)
 Therefore, she trusted defendant Sato. Furthermore, Ms. C felt that her body had become lighter, which she attributed to the removal of the spirit, and she began to feel indebted to defendant Sato.
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 Sato recommended the purchase of a 200,000 yen bracelet as a good-luck charm, and since Ms. C did not have the money, she borrowed money from a consumer loan and paid it. Later, defendant Sato even made Ms. C sign a written pledge stating that she would not sell the bracelet by fraud.
 Ms. C said she believed that Mr. Sato was a medium who had protected her from the danger of death. However, when she learned of Sato&#8217;s arrest through news reports, she consulted the police and was re-arrested.
 The issue at trial will be whether the crime of &#8220;nonconsensual sexual intercourse&#8221; can be established.
 In May 2011, a representative of a non-profit organization told a woman in her twenties whom he was supporting that she had to cleanse herself because she had an evil spirit attached to her,
 He told her that she had an evil spirit attached to her and that she needed to be cleansed.
 In the case, the man pleaded not guilty, saying that he had sexual intercourse with the woman after she gave her consent at her invitation. In contrast, the Tokyo District Court rejected the defendant&#8217;s statement and sentenced him to eight years in prison (nine years is the recommended sentence), on the grounds that &#8220;it is hard to imagine a man who has never met the defendant before inviting her to have sexual intercourse with him.
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 The court rejected the defendant&#8217;s statement and sentenced him to eight years in prison (with a nine-year maximum). &#8220;However, past precedents show that even if a person engages in sexual intercourse with the other person&#8217;s consent under false pretenses (e.g., by telling him to get rid of spirits), he is not immediately convicted of non-consensual sexual intercourse. The relationship with the victim will also be considered, such as whether there were threats or mental control, whether the victim used religion or exorcism as an excuse to take advantage of misbelief, and whether the victim was in a position to refuse or cancel the sexual intercourse.
 What kind of arguments will Sato make in the trials of Ms. C, Ms. A, and Ms. B? It will be interesting to see.

 The Tokyo District Court heard the trial of a man who was accused of having non-consensual sexual intercourse with three women, claiming to be able to "exorcise" them by telling them he could see "living spirits. The man's despicable and almost fiendish tactics were revealed. ......

Medium&#8217;s devilish tactics revealed in court: He told a woman that she had a &#8220;live spirit&#8221; and had sex with her immediately after her heart was broken.

Medium’s devilish tactics revealed in court: He told a woman that she had a “live spirit” and had sex with her immediately after her heart was broken.

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