Man jailed for kidnapping girl for nine years

A Japanese man was jailed for 14 years today for kidnapping a child and holding her captive in his bedroom for nine years.

Nobuyuki Sato, 39, abducted the girl - then aged nine - and imprisoned her in his room for nine years and two months.

She was eventually found by hospital employees at his home last year.

Presiding Judge Isoo Sakaki as saying Sato ‘‘deprived her of her adolescence, the most important phase of one’s growth and she is still suffering from tremendous difficulties for going back to the society.’’

Sato forced the girl into his car as she was walking home from school on November 13, 1990, in Sanjo, 140 miles northwest of Tokyo.

He held her in his second floor room and threatened her with a knife. Later, she was too cowed to attempt an escape.

The girl has said she never ventured from the second floor of her captor’s house. Sato’s mother reportedly said she did not know about her son’s prisoner. Sato was reported to be violent, and his mother said she was too afraid to go up to the second floor.

According to reports, the girl, who is now 21, sometimes goes shopping and chats with friends. A medical team, however, visits her once every one or two weeks to monitor her mental health.