2 school heads face prosecution over teacher’s filming of student changing clothes

IRUMA, Saitama — Police on Oct. 23 sent papers to prosecutors on a principal and a vice principal who made a male teacher delete a movie which he had secretly filmed of a junior high school girl who was changing her clothes, investigators said.

The principal, 59, and the vice principal, 54, of an Iruma municipal junior high school in Saitama Prefecture are accused of harboring a suspect and destroying evidence. They allegedly made the teacher delete the movie from a video camera in the principal’s office in May 2016 in a bid to cover up the incident and did not report the matter to the police.

According to Saitama Prefectural Police, the pair have admitted to the allegations. The principal said, “I thought the burden on the school would get bigger if the teacher quit.” The vice principal added, “I agreed with the principal without careful consideration.”

The teacher was arrested on suspicion of violating the Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography in May and again in June, for allegedly setting up a video camera in a classroom and filming the student change clothes from April 2015 to May 2016 and from this January to February this year. Prosecutors chose not to indict the teacher over these cases. He reportedly bought a new camera after the principal had previously confiscated his other one and continued to film the student this year.

The prefectural education board on Oct. 23 dismissed the teacher on disciplinary grounds and suspended the principal for six months, while cutting the vice principal’s salary by 10 percent for three months. The principal resigned voluntarily the same day.