By Jessie Pang
HONG KONG, August 13 (Reuters) -J-pop star Kenshin Kamimura was found guilty by a Hong Kong court on Wednesday of the indecent assault in March of a woman who served as his interpreter during a fan event.
Kamimura, 26, was previously a member of the six-member boy group One N’ Only. He pleaded not guilty in April and chose not to testify during the trial in July.
Magistrate Peter Yu said that Kamimura’s behaviour showed obvious disrespect towards women, noting that his touches suggested a sexual undertone.
“Such behaviour should be condemned,” Yu said, fining him HK$15,000 ($1,923) after his lawyer in mitigation urged a financial penalty rather than jail.
On hearing the sentence, Kamimura hugged his court translator, while a handful of fans wept in the public gallery. Dozens more waited outside after the hearing ended as Kamimura left court without saying anything.
The victim, identified only as X, testified in July that Kamimura and actor Junsei Motojima hired her as an interpreter to translate during a fan meeting in Hong Kong on March 1. The group then attended a celebratory dinner at a restaurant in the city’s Mong Kok district.
She told the court Kamimura moved to sit beside her during a toasting session and started repeatedly brushing and patting her thigh before suggesting they visit the bathroom together. He asked both in Chinese and Japanese if she knew what he meant, she added.
X said she declined, telling him, “If you want to go, you can go by yourself.”
She said she then moved away to get some tea, but Kamimura blocked her path and again asked her to go outside. She told the court she refused.
After X returned to her seat, Kamimura also came back and sat beside her. He apologised and said, “Forget what just happened,” she recalled in her testimony. The singer also asked her about her relationship status and whether she planned to marry her boyfriend, she said.
Kamimura then brushed her inner thigh again with the back of his right hand, X told the court. She shrank away, but he repeated the action about two to three times.
Kamimura’s lawyer said in mitigation that his client did not intend to coerce or threaten and that alcohol might have affected his judgment.
The magistrate said that Kamimura had paid a huge price for the incident, saying he was immediately fired by his company and forced to leave the band.
(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Greg Torode and Kate Mayberry)
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