A Tokyo-based Australian journalist and father was given a suspended prison term of six months by the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday for illegally trespassing into a building complex where his in-laws live in Tokyo's Suginami Ward in October, in what the journalist said was an attempt to check on his children after a powerful typhoon.

Presiding Judge Yuichi Tada said that evidence confirmed the illegal intrusion by freelance sports writer Scott McIntyre into the common area of the building where the in-laws live. McIntyre repeatedly called on the intercom and refused to leave despite warnings from police, according to the ruling.

Tada said that his "criminal responsibility should not be taken lightly" and should not be concluded as a mere violation of the law.