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Sankei Shimbun, December 17th, 2011

Not guilty finding for rape of de facto wife's daughter overturned

The appeal case of Takashi Furukawa (43, self-employed) was heard at the Osaka HIgh Court on the 16th. He is accused of raping his de facto wife's daughter who is a high school girl and prosecutors in the first trial held in Kobe demanded a 13 year prison sentence but the defendant was found not guilty.
The presiding judge Tetsuji Yukawa overturned the judgment of the original trial saying the victim's testimony was credible. He handed down a new sentence of ten years imprisonment.
The defense is going to appeal to a higher court.
In the trial, it became a key issue whether or not she was able to resist him because the eldest daughter was ill-treated by the defendant Furukawa for a long period of time.
Presiding Judge Yukawa acknowledged the testimony of the daughter being "terrified by the defendant's abuse" as "detailed and trustworthy".

Original article