Alleged sexual assaults reported at Oita care facilities for people with disabilities in fiscal year 2019

By Barrier Free Japan

April 6 2021

OITA – Three cases of abuse were reported at facilities for the disabled in Oita Prefecture in fiscal year 2019, according to an interview with the prefecture on April 5.

According to the Tokyo Shimbun, Oita Prefecture reported that in fiscal year 2019 ‘sexual acts’ such as kissing took place at care facilities in the prefecture.

The victims, a total of three men and three women, were slapped by staff members, and there were also sexual acts such as kissing. The facilities have taken measures to prevent recurrence, such as reassigning staff and installing surveillance cameras.

According to the prefectural government, in June 2019, a male staff member in his 60s kissed a female user in her 30s on the mouth at a group home where several disabled people live together. In October of the same year, at a day service for disabled children, a female instructor grabbed the arm of a boy (6) so hard that a bruise appeared, and a female employee in her 40s at another facility for the disabled got into an argument with a male user in his 60s and slapped him on the cheek.