A 59-year-old former employee at a vocational school in Miyazaki Prefecture was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Monday for sexually assaulting seven people including some students after drugging them with sleeping pills.
The Miyazaki District Court found Yoichi Tsuura, who was a technical assistant at the National Institute of Technology, Miyakonojo College, sexually assaulted them by spiking their foods and drinks between July 2015 and March 2023.
"The defendant took advantage of the victims' trust in him and carried out the premeditated crimes," Presiding Judge Hiroyuki Funato said in handing down the ruling.
Prosecutors had asked for 30 years in prison.
The college dismissed Tsuura in May last year after he was indicted.
It also released a statement on its website apologizing to the victims and their families after the ruling was handed down.
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