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Kyodo

A Japanese man accused of conspiring with a woman to force a then 12-year-old Thai girl into sex work at a Tokyo massage parlour he operated has denied the charges.
“I did not know she was underage,” Masayuki Hosono, 52, told the Tokyo District Court during the first hearing of his criminal trial on Monday.
His defence counsel also argued that he had been deceived about the girl’s age by the woman, Punsiripanya Phakhaphon, 38, a Thai national who managed the private-room massage parlour in Tokyo’s Yushima district.
Punsiripanya was arrested on February 16 on suspicion of violating the immigration control law by arranging for a foreign national to engage in illegal work.


She had already been arrested in January for allegedly acting against the child welfare law and was subsequently indicted.
In their opening statement on Monday, the prosecutors said the girl entered Japan on a short-term visa after her mother told her she would be working there.
They alleged Hosono made the girl perform lewd acts on him, calling it “practice”, and forced her to provide sexual services to male customers.
The girl’s written statement was also read aloud, in which she said her mother left her alone in Tokyo to work and send back the money she earned.
According to the indictment, Hosono conspired with the female manager to force the girl to provide sexual services to a male customer last June, and had the girl perform lewd acts on himself two months later.
Thai police arrested the girl’s mother in December on suspicion of offences including human trafficking. The girl, who had been taken into protective custody in Japan, returned to Thailand that same month.


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The 52-year-old, who made the girl ‘practise’ lewd acts on him, said he did not know she was underage


The 52-year-old, who made the girl ‘practise’ lewd acts on him, said he did not know she was underage.


Crime

Thailand

Sexual harassment and assault

Tokyo

Japanese massage parlour operator denies forcing Thai girl, 12, into sex work

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 52-year-old, who made the girl ‘practise’ lewd acts on him, said he did not know she was underage

The 52-year-old, who made the girl ‘practise’ lewd acts on him, said he did not know she was underage