A medical student was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for gang raping a woman with his classmates.
Kensuke Yamada, 23, a fifth-year student in Chiba University's medical school, was found guilty of taking part in the rape last September at a restaurant in the city of Chiba.
"The defendant's demeanor of ignoring the victim's worth as a human was evident," said the presiding judge, Noriaki Yoshimura, of the Chiba District Court.
Prosecutors had sought five years for Yamada, while his lawyers sought a suspended sentence, saying the crime was not premeditated and that he showed remorse.
The court found that Yamada conspired with fellow medical student Masaya Yoshimoto, 23, to rape the victim, who was inebriated at the time, from late in the evening of Sept. 20 into the early hours of the following day.
Yoshimoto is being tried separately.
The court earlier gave suspended prison sentences to two other men in connection with the case.
Chiba University medical student Mineto Masuda, 23, was given a three-year suspended sentence for raping the woman later that night after taking her to his home, while a former doctor at Chiba University Hospital was given a two-year suspended sentence for indecent conduct.