Male Radiologist Found Guilty of Molesting Fukuoka Female Student with Intellectual Disabilities During Medical Exam

Extract from The Yomiuri Shimbun

April 20 2026

FUKUOKA – In a retrial at the Fukuoka District Court on the 20th, Presiding Judge Shinichi Suzushima sentenced a 44-year-old male radiological technologist to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years (matching the prosecution’s request of one year and six months). The man had been charged with quasi-forcible indecency for touching the chest of a female student with intellectual disabilities during a 2018 medical check-up at a high school in Fukuoka Prefecture. Judge Suzushima upheld the credibility of the student’s testimony, describing the act as a “despicable crime that exploited his professional position.”

According to the ruling, the man touched the chest of the student (then 15 years old) in May 2018 while performing an X-ray.

The Fukuoka District Court originally acquitted the man, refusing to admit the victim’s testimony as evidence. This testimony had been obtained through a “forensic interview” (representative interview), a method where a single representative conducts the questioning to assist the prosecution and police while minimizing stress on the victim. The Fukuoka High Court later ruled that the initial trial had not been thoroughly examined and ordered a retrial at the district court level. While the defense appealed to the Supreme Court, the appeal was dismissed.

In the retrial, the testimony from the forensic interview was admitted as evidence. Regarding the statements made during the interview, the court determined they were “fully credible,” noting that the student had spontaneously disclosed being touched and that the core of her story remained consistent with what she had told her family.

The court concluded that the man’s criminal actions could be established based on this testimony and rejected the defense’s plea of innocence.