A Singapore court has sentenced a Japanese man to prison and caning for the “brutal and cruel” rape of a university student in 2019.
Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old hairdresser, will be the first Japanese national to be caned in Singapore, according to the Japanese embassy. He will receive 20 strokes of the cane and serve 17 and a half years in jail.
Caning, a controversial yet common form of corporal punishment in Singapore, is mandatory for crimes like vandalism, robbery, and drug trafficking.
Court documents reveal that Kita met the victim at Clarke Quay, a popular nightlife area, in December 2019. The woman, who was 20 at the time, did not know Kita and was intoxicated when he took her to his apartment and raped her. He also recorded the assault on his phone and sent the footage to a friend. The victim escaped and reported the rape to the police the same day.
The court described the rape as “brutal and cruel.” Kita was arrested that day and has been in custody since. Police found two videos of the rape on his phone.
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Justice Aedit Abdullah labeled the assault “brutal and cruel,” highlighting the victim’s vulnerability and intoxication. The judge dismissed the defense’s claim that the victim initially indicated consent.
The sentencing has garnered significant attention in Japan and on social media. Some expressed shock at the use of caning in contemporary Singapore, while others supported the punishment, criticizing Japan’s lenient handling of sexual assault cases.
Singapore maintains that caning deters violent crime, though some rights groups dispute this claim. Caning involves striking the back of the thigh with a wooden stick, which can cause permanent scarring. The cane measures about 1.5m (4.9ft) and is no more than 1.27cm in diameter, according to the Transformative Justice Collective.
The practice gained international attention in 1994 when 19-year-old American Michael Fay received six strokes for vandalism. Despite an appeal from President Bill Clinton, Singapore reduced the number of strokes but proceeded with the caning.
