Prosecutors call for four-year jail term for Japan sexual assault

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.

American dancer James Blackston, aged 23, is accused of assaulting Ms Furlong’s friend at the Keio Plaza Hotel on May 24, while another American man, Richard Hinds, aged 19, is due to stand trial next month for the murder of Ms Furlong, on the same day, in the hotel where the two men were staying.

While Hinds has admitted to strangling the Dublin City University student, though without intent, Blackston has denied the charge of assaulting her unidentified friend.