Japanese film director jailed for 8 years for sexual assualt

Hideo Sakaki pleaded not guilty and appealed the March 6 ruling. Read more at straitstimes.com.

TOKYO - A Japanese film director was jailed for eight years on March 6 over the sexual assault of two women actors, a court spokesman and media reports said.

Hideo Sakaki, 55, was accused of assaulting the women separately – in 2015 and 2016 when they were in their 20s – under the pretence of “acting instruction”, Kyodo news and other media reported.

Sakaki’s film “Confession” was pulled following the accusations in 2022, part of a string of sexual abuse allegations to hit Japan’s film and television industry.

The Tokyo district court “sentenced the defendant to eight years in prison”, a court spokesman told AFP.

Sakaki – also an actor whose best known films in Japan include horror flick “Versus” and sci-fi movie “Alive” – pleaded not guilty and appealed the March 6 ruling, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The presiding judge said that one of the women’s “testimony that she was suddenly assaulted during an acting rehearsal and had not consented at all is credible,” NHK said.