A Japanese man who brutally raped a student in Singapore has been sentenced to prison and caning by a court in the city-state.
Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old hairdresser, is set to be the first Japanese citizen to be caned in Singapore, reports the BBC.
He will be caned 20 times and also sentenced for 17 and a half years.
Courts in Singapore regularly hand out caning as a punishment for crimes.
It is compulsory for offences such as drug trafficking, robbery and vandalism.
Those sentenced to caning in Singapore are struck with a wooden stick on the back of the thigh, which can leave permanent scars.
In December 2019, Kita met the woman, then aged 20, in a popular nightlife district, court documents show.
The pair had not met before and she was intoxicated.
Kita took her to his apartment and raped her and filmed the act on his mobile phone.
The victim managed to leave the unit later and reported the rape to police.
Kita was arrested on the same day and has been in police custody since.
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Police found two videos of the rape on his mobile phone.
Justice Aedit Abdullah described the assault as “brutal and cruel”.
Kita’s sentencing has been widely reported in Japan and has also been trending on social media.
The use of caning in the city-state has been controversial, with critics arguing corporal punishment is outdated in modern society.
The Singapore government insists it deters people from committing crimes, but human rights groups dispute this.
