 "The front facade of Singapore's high court building. AP")
A Japanese man has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and 20 strokes of the cane by a Singapore court for raping and sexually assaulting a woman in 2019, according to court documents. This case marks the first instance of a Japanese national receiving corporal punishment in Singapore.
The Singapore High Court issued the sentence to Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old hair stylist, on Monday. Kita was found guilty of assaulting a 20-year-old female Singaporean university student who was intoxicated at the time. The incident occurred in the early hours of December 30, 2019, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Court documents reveal that Kita, who did not know the woman, took her to his apartment by taxi and committed non-consensual sexual acts while recording the incident. He later sent the footage to a friend, according to Channel News Asia.
Kita was arrested by police later that same day and released on bail the following day. He was formally charged in a lower court in May of the previous year and has been in custody since then.
Presiding Judge Aedit Abdullah described the assaults as “brutal and cruel,” emphasising that the severity of the sentence was warranted given the circumstances, particularly the victim’s intoxicated and vulnerable state.
Kita pleaded guilty to the charges. The Japanese embassy in Singapore confirmed that Kita is the first Japanese national to receive caning as part of his punishment. In Singapore, caning is a legal punishment for serious offences including rape, armed robbery and vandalism.