A Japanese man allegedly chained a teenage girl with a dog collar for more than three months and repeatedly raped and beat her after meeting her in an Internet chatroom, police said Thursday.
Yasuyoshi Kobayashi -- who at age 24 has been married and divorced four times -- was arrested Wednesday nearly a year after the crime when the traumatized girl came forward to police.
The girl, who is now 19, travelled from the western province of Hyogo to Tokyo to see Kobayashi in March last year after he threatened over the Internet to send gangsters to her home if she did not obey him, police said.
He allegedly kept her in hotels and his apartment in a dog collar, demanding she address him as "master" and repeatedly raping her and assaulting her in an ordeal he photographed with his mobile telephone, a police official said.
Kobayashi pretended he had guards to dissuade the girl from leaving and he would call her home in Hyogo to assure her family that everything was fine.
The girl was rescued in June 2004 after she escaped from his apartment and called for help from a shop. Jiji Press said the teenager was visibly worn out and has begun balding.
{{/usCountry}}The girl was rescued in June 2004 after she escaped from his apartment and called for help from a shop. Jiji Press said the teenager was visibly worn out and has begun balding.
{{/usCountry}}According to news reports, Kobayashi has a history of confining and assaulting his wives. He was reportedly arrested in 2002 for a similar case and sentenced to three years in prison but he was currently on probation with a five-year suspension of the sentence.
Kobayashi denied the accusation and said he could not remember his involvement with the girl and suffered from schizophrenia, according to the news reports.