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Cries of terror foil teacher trying to rape fifth-grader

A Tokyo teacher was arrested Friday after he tried to rape a fifth-grader, giving up only because she started crying as he ripped her clothes off, police said.

Taku Hashimoto, the teacher at a public elementary school in Setagaya-ku, was arrested for attempted rape.

He admits to the allegations, saying police claims that he had tried to rape the girl were "no mistake."

Investigators fear the married 33-year-old from the Tokyo suburb of Hachioji may have unleashed sex attacks on other girls and are looking into his past activities.

Hiromitsu Oka, principal of the school where Hashimoto works, was distraught.

"It rips my heart out that a painful act like this has occurred," he told a news conference at the Setagaya Municipal Government offices on Friday before expressing his amazement over what Hashimoto is accused of doing. "(Hashimoto) was so keen on education, so passionate. He was a teacher who really tried hard to manage his class. The kids loved him, too."

Hiroshi Nakamura, deputy director of the municipal government's office of education, was suitably outraged.

"It was a vile, unforgivable act," Nakamura said. "I can't apologize enough when I think about the agony the child and her parents must be going through."

Police said that following an after-school sports club activities he had supervised on Thursday afternoon, Hashimoto instructed the fifth grader to go to a meeting room in the school building where he would give her some private lessons.

Once he got the little girl into the room, Hashimoto tried to rape her, police said, adding that she began crying loudly once Hashimoto had taken all her clothes off, so the teacher decided not to proceed with his attack. The girl described her traumatic experience to her mother and father. Police were subsequently contacted early Friday by a friend of the parents who told them about the attack.

Officers contacted Hashimoto, who admitted to the girl's accusations.

Hashimoto did not turn up to teach on Friday, but classes at the school went ahead as scheduled. Hashimoto is married and has been teaching for about 10 years. He has been at his current school for the past four years.

It is the second posting of his career. He was in charge of teaching children in the higher grades at the elementary school. (Compiled from Mainichi and wire reports, Japan, Oct. 24, 2003)