11-1-2007 Japan
TOKYO: The body of a city worker in southern Japan was found hanging from a tree Thursday in an apparent suicide amid an investigation into allegations he molested a female news reporter earlier this year.
Police found Nagasaki city employee Shizuo Deguchi, 59, in hills near the city early Thursday after his family reported him missing, said local police official Koji Minami.
Deguchi had been working as head of the city's division for atomic bomb victims when he was accused in late July of molestation.
Mayor Tomihisa Taue told reporters Thursday that Deguchi, at a meeting earlier this week, acknowledged some form of molestation, but said he did not use force and was not abusing his official position. Taue's remarks were confirmed by a city official who spoke to the AP by telephone from Nagasaki on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Taue did not provide details of the molestation, the official said. But the national Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that Deguchi had taken the woman to a hotel and tried to force her to have sex with him.
Japanese news reports about sex crimes are often vague, and the Yomiuri did not explain whether Deguchi allegedly raped the woman or not.
Taue said he told Deguchi that officials would investigate the allegations, though Minami said earlier in the day that police had not been contacted about the case by city hall.
"If the reports are true, his act was inappropriate for a public servant, and we were to launch an investigation," Taue was quoted as saying by city hall. "So I wish that he could have explained fully about what happened."
Japan's suicide rate is among the highest in the industrialized world, and the number of people taking their own lives topped 30,000 for a ninth straight year in 2006. A total 32,155 Japanese committed suicides last year.
Japan is the only nation to have suffered a nuclear attack when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II.
Nagasaki is approximately 982 kilometers (615 miles) southwest of Tokyo. ..more.. by AP
No comments:
Post a Comment