'Distorted sexual desires' cost academic
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Kazuhide Uekusa
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The Tokyo District Court on March 23 fined Kazuhide Uekusa, a well-known economist and television pundit, ¥500,000 for using a mirror to look up the skirt of a high-school student in April.
Presiding Judge Kazuyuki Okuma said Uekusa was trying to satisfy his "distorted sexual desires." The 44-year-old former professor at a Waseda University graduate school denied the charges during the trial.
The judge said the case had a large impact on society because the crime was committed by a professor and public commentator.
But the judge did not sentence Uekusa to prison, saying, "He has been socially punished by losing the status and fame he worked so hard to acquire."
According to the written indictment, Uekusa held a small mirror under the girl's skirt on an ascending escalator at JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo on April 8, 2004.
The Japan Times Weekly: April 2, 2005 (C) All rights reserved
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