3-7-2024 (SINGAPORE) A Singapore court has handed down a severe sentence to a Japanese man for the brutal rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2019. The ruling marks the first instance of a Japanese national receiving corporal punishment in the city-state.
On Monday, the Singapore High Court sentenced Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old hair stylist, to 17.5 years in prison and 20 strokes of the cane for his heinous crimes against a then 20-year-old female Singaporean university student. The assault took place in the early hours of December 30, 2019, when Kita took advantage of the woman’s state of intoxication.
According to court documents, Kita, who was previously unknown to the victim, transported her to his flat by taxi and engaged in non-consensual sexual acts while filming the encounter. His apprehension by the police later that day led to his initial release on bail the following day. However, he was subsequently charged in a lower court in May of last year and has been remanded since then.
Presiding Judge Aedit Abdullah did not mince words in his ruling, describing Kita’s actions as “brutal and cruel.” The judge emphasized that the sentence should be heavy given the circumstances of the offenses committed against the victim, who was in a vulnerable state due to her level of intoxication.
Kita had pleaded guilty to the charges, acknowledging the gravity of his actions and the weight of the evidence against him.
The case has garnered significant attention not only for the severity of the crime but also for the unprecedented nature of the sentence imposed on a Japanese national. Japan’s embassy in Singapore confirmed that Kita is the first Japanese citizen to receive strokes of the cane as part of a criminal sentence in the city-state.
Under Singapore’s legal system, the imposition of caning is permitted for serious offenses such as rape, armed robbery, and vandalism. The country is among the Southeast Asian nations that continue to employ corporal punishment as a deterrent against certain crimes.
