A Japanese man, Ikko Kita, has been sentenced to prison and caning in Singapore for brutally raping a student, making him the first Japanese citizen to face caning in the city-state.
Kita, a 38-year-old hairdresser, will receive 20 strokes of the cane and a 17 and a half-year prison sentence for his heinous crime.
Caning is a common punishment for various offenses in Singapore, including drug trafficking, robbery, and vandalism, with the strikes leaving permanent scars.
Justice Aedit Abdullah described Kita’s assault as “brutal and cruel,” bringing attention to the controversy surrounding corporal punishment in the city-state.
While the Singapore government argues that caning deters crime, human rights groups disagree, with Kita’s case sparking discussions both in Japan and on social media.