Elementary school teacher Fumiya Kosemura pleaded guilty to charges of sharing child sex abuse images via social media, in the first hearing on his case at the Nagoya District Court on Wednesday.
The charges are "correct, and I'm very sorry," said Kosemura, 37, a teacher at a public elementary school in Yokohama, who has been indicted for voyeurism and indecent assault.
Public prosecutors said Kosemura became acquainted with Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at a public elementary school in Nagoya, who started engaging in voyeurism about a decade ago through social media communications with people who have the same sexual preference.
Moriyama invited the defendant and others to a messaging app in August 2024, and they started posting video footage to their group chat, the prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Kosemura secretly recorded the underwear of a 7-year-old girl at a facility in Kanagawa Prefecture and shared the video data within the group between January and February this year.
Kosemura is also alleged to have engaged in obscene acts against an 8-year-old girl and videotaped scenes of six victims, including the 8-year-old girl, changing their clothes to produce child sex abuse images, between October 2024 and April this year.
Kosemura and Moriyama are among six teachers arrested in a recent series of child sex abuse image crimes in the country. Of them, four have been indicted.
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