Female elementary school teacher arrested over secret videos of naked students
A 25-year-old elementary school teacher has been arrested on suspicion of making secret videos of naked female students from her school, it was learned on Aug. 8.
Kaori Yamakawa, a fourth-grade teacher at a public school in Kunitachi, Tokyo, is accused of violating child pornography laws by secretly filming sixth-grade girls bathing in a hotel during a school trip to Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, on June 21 this year. According to the Kunitachi Municipal Board of Education, Yamakawa was in charge of supervising the students in the hotel bath.
Police said that Yamakawa has admitted to the allegations, though she has denied any intent to sell or otherwise distribute the videos.
Yamakawa was also caught using a concealed camera to film naked girls in a swimming pool change room at an amusement park in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward on July 15, an investigative source told the Mainichi Shimbun. Yamakawa submitted to voluntary questioning by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)’s Nerima Station over the incident, at which she was quoted as saying, “I liked to look at and to touch (the girls’) beautiful chests.”
The videos taken in the hotel bath came to light after police investigated the amusement park change room incident. A search of Yamakawa’s school and her home in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, however, did not turn up any suspicious images. The school informed parents of the July 15 incident and subsequent investigation at a July 21 meeting.
The MPD informed Yamakawa’s school of her arrest at about 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, and the school held an emergency meeting for parents and guardians that day. The greatest task facing teachers at the school, however, may be reassuring students whose trust was violated by one of the adults closest to them.
“I’m very worried about the turmoil the students may be in after such an unspeakable incident,” said the deputy head of the Kunitachi education board. “We’ll do our best to work with counselors and help the children get over any anxiety.”
According to the board, Yamakawa was hired on a temporary contract in April 2011 and became a full-fledged employee in April this year. Though Yamakawa’s job at the school was her first teaching position, she apparently received sterling reviews from parents for her “enthusiasm for taking care of her students.”
The MPD also intend to file documents with prosecutors accusing Yamakawa of violating Tokyo’s anti-nuisance ordinance by taking the July 15 change room video.
Mainichi Japan, August 9, 2012
See original article at:http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120809p2a00m0na007000c.html
