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On December 23, the Tokyo District Court upheld a woman’s sexual abuse complaint against a chaplain at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo.
The lawsuit found that in May 2017, the chaplain forced the patient, who was suffering from an incurable disease, to give her groin massage twice. She had even touched her.
Rejecting the defendant’s defense that it was a tacit agreement between her and him, the court ruled that she had committed an illegal act against the patient’s will and violated her sexual freedom and private rights.
The 51-year-old cleric and the private Saint Luke’s University, which runs the hospital, were thus ordered to compensate the victim for 1.1 million yen (7,800 euros) (who had asked for 11.6 million yen).
“It is necessary to clearly establish a law of protection against sexual abuse in Japan, in all cases, even if they concern religious people,” said the victim’s lawyer.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
