A woman's sobs carried through the courtroom where Kentaro Kitagawa, a former head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, is on trial over a quasi-rape charge involving a subordinate. At the second hearing at the Osaka District Court on October 27, Kitagawa denied the charges against him.
At the first hearing in October 2024 he had admitted them. "I will not contest it. I deeply regret the serious harm I caused and want to apologize," he said then, according to a reporter who covers the courts. He later signaled he would change his plea, and a procedure to narrow the issues was held before the trial resumed, two years after it began.
The defense accepts the act took place but argues the woman consented and was not unable to resist. It points to her having paid the bill at a gathering shortly before the incident and the taxi fare to his official residence, arguing she was not drunk to the point of incapacity.
Prosecutors add a second theory
Prosecutors initially argued the woman was intoxicated and froze when she regained awareness, unable to resist what was happening. After Kitagawa's claim of innocence, they amended the charge to add that he exploited his influence as head of the office.
“It may look as if they thought the intoxication argument alone might be overturned, so they spread a safety net by alleging abuse of position. Voices at the office were asking, 'Don't they have confidence?'”a prosecutor, speaking to Shukan Bunshun
No new evidence was presented at the hearing. The reporter said it was unusual for a defendant to admit a charge and then reverse course, and that some had expected evidence to emerge backing acquittal. No message directly supporting the consent the defense claims has surfaced either.
Kitagawa, a former elite prosecutor, now faces the scrutiny of the institution he once led. The reporter described the mood among his former colleagues as cold.