Family Ties

As said on countless occasions, Japan is screwed up. But I guess it is heartening to know that they value the family unit.

from Mainichi Daily News
YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa—Despite having labeled a man as “worse than a pervert” for performing indecent acts on his 7-year-old daughter and then e-mailing images of his deeds to friends, a judge allowed him to walk free.

The Yokosuka Branch of the Yokohama Family Court handed down a three-year sentence for breaking the Child Welfare Law on the 39-year-old Mie Prefecture man.

“Your words and acts while sexually abusing your own daughter caused her severe mental damage,” the presiding judge in the case said while handing down the ruling, but then he suspended the sentence for five years. “It’s a matter of course that your should go to jail. But then it’s hard on the girl if her father is in prison. Don’t ever do something like this again.”

The trial showed the man had molested his 7-year-old daughter on at least 10 occasions from August last year to February, using his mobile phone camera to film his deeds. He then sent the photos to a friend he had met through a pedophile website.

On the opening day of the trial on May 25, the judge lambasted the man.

“You’ve gone past mere perversion. You’re worse than a pervert. You’ve done something a normal father couldn’t even imagine doing. It was not the act of a human being. What are you going to do about the future of the daughter you’ve hurt so badly?” the judge told the man.

The man admitted his guilt.

“I’ve done something terrible. I want to make it up to my family.”