A woman who accuses her former superior at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office of sexual assault told a court she came forward knowing it could cost her her career. "I suffered for five years before I reported it, and I reported it prepared to lose my job," she testified through tears, TV Asahi reported.
Kentaro Kitagawa, 67, a former chief prosecutor at the office, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman, then a prosecutor working under him, in 2018, when she was drunk and unable to resist, according to the indictment and other court records.
Kitagawa admitted the charges and apologized at his first hearing, then later argued the encounter was consensual and pleaded not guilty. He appeared in court again for the questioning of the accuser on Friday.
A mentor, she says
Asked about her relationship with Kitagawa before the assault, the woman described him as the person who taught her the basics of investigation and how a prosecutor should conduct herself. "He was my master," she said, TV Asahi reported.
Her testimony is expected to continue in the afternoon session. Under Japan's lay-judge system, serious criminal cases such as this are heard by a panel of citizen judges sitting with professional judges.