Cop gets 20 years for abducting girls 'for sexual purposes'

SAGA (Kyodo) The Saga District Court sentenced a former police officer Tuesday to 20 years in prison for abducting four elementary school girls between 2001 and 2004.

Hiroyuki Tomita, 27, was found guilty of forcing the girls into his car between July 2001 and February 2004 in Saga and Fukuoka prefectures, and of attempting to kidnap another girl in Saga in May 2001. He was charged with abduction for sexual purposes.

Tomita was on the Fukuoka Prefectural Police force from October 2002 to June 2004.

During the trial, Tomita did not deny forcing the girls into the car. But he denied having any "sexual interest" in them, claiming he committed the crimes as an act of revenge against his father, who he said had physically abused him when he was a child.

No mention was made of the harm that may have befallen the girls. The prosecutors told the court they confiscated child porn magazines from the defendant's home and his police dormitory and he had "demonstrably shown sexual interest" in carrying out the abductions.

Tomita was also charged with injuring a policeman in an April 2004 escape attempt.