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Voice Actress Haruna Ikezawa's Stalker Found Guilty
posted on by Egan Loo
Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa Branch found 28-year-old Hiroshi Sasaki guilty of stalking voice actress Haruna Ikezawa (Sgt. Frog, Futari wa Pretty Cure, Maria Watches Over Us) and gave him a suspended sentence on Tuesday. The unemployed Morioka City man was charged with defamation and violations of Japan's anti-stalking law for defaming Ikezawa on her homepage's bulletin board system and sending email messages requesting a personal meeting.
Sasaki received a 18-month sentence, but it was suspended for five years. If Sasaki does not break the law during those five years, he will not actually have to serve prison time. The prosecution had asked for an 18-month sentence without suspension. In his sentencing, Judge Haremitsu Mōri said that Sasaki did not worry about the trouble he caused the victim with his relentless messages, and the judge added that it was a "selfish, despicable crime."
From February to April of 2009, the suspect sent 16 mobile phone email messages that said, among other things, "Come by yourself to Morioka, since it's only two hours by shinkansen ('bullet train')." Ikezawa revealed on her official website in February of 2009 that she has an restraining order against a stalker who she did not name at the time.
Source: Sports Nippon
