The man standing trial for sexually assaulting a college friend of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong was sentenced to three years with labour, with the presiding judge Masayuki Yamada saying the assault had been carried out to fulfil a “desire”.

Prosecutors in Tokyo have called for a four-year sentence for one of the men implicated in crimes last May against two Irishwomen, one of whom, Nicola Furlong, was found strangled in a Tokyo hotel.

An Irishwoman has given evidence to a Tokyo court about her sexual assault and the rape and killing of exchange student Nicola Furlong earlier this year.