On 8 May Wakayama Police announced that they arrested 26-year-old Masaya Ogawa for the indecent assault of a 23-year-old woman aboard a commuter train. Adding a bizarre twist to the story, Ogawa claims that she was asking for it. He doesn’t mean that in the lame wearing-a-mini-skirt-is-asking-for-it way that other sex offenders use. Ogawa says that this was a prearranged session of “molester-play” set up online between him and the woman.

The incident occurred on 30 April around 7 pm on a train running from Kokawa Station to Wakayama Station. Ogawa was sitting next to the woman who was in the window seat when his hand began to creep towards her skirt. Eventually his hand began squeezing her stomach and thigh without restraint.

At this point a second, unidentified man who was standing near the door began groping the woman from behind grabbing her breasts. The woman had said “please stop” and the standing man disembarked at the next stop. However, Ogawa continued to grab at the woman’s body. The entire train ride lasted for about 20 to 30 minutes with the groping ongoing throughout. When the train came to its final stop at Wakayama Station, the pair got up to leave. However, as they got off the train the woman suddenly grabbed the man by the arm and took him to the station workers. They then delivered Ogawa to police.

In custody, Ogawa made a statement saying, “I was looking on a website for people who want to molest to meet people who want to be molested. I got the time and train car information from a woman on that website.” The woman, however, flatly denies ever using that website. Police investigated the “molester-play” website where Ogawa claimed to have met the woman and found postings such as “is there someone to molest on the Wakayama Line?” along with train times and seat locations. They were also able to find the second man who got off the train partway through the site.

The investigation is still ongoing. The woman had said that she always sat in the same seat during her commute, so police are looking into the possibility that Ogawa was catfished, meaning that someone pretending to be the woman online set him up to “molester-play” her.

Source: MSN Sankei News (Japanese)
Image: Wikipedia – Hanshin Tsuyoina