Schoolgirl sues over bullying meted out for exposing coach's sex harassment

The Mainichi Shimbun
December 11, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071211p2a00m0na022000c.html

KYOTO -- A schoolgirl athlete and her parents have sued a posh Kyoto girl's school for 6.88 million yen in damages for failing to deal with the way her coach had sexually harassed her.

The 17-year-old girl, a third year athletics scholarship student at Kyoto Koka High School, sued the school for being sexually harassed and the poor way it handled the case, saying it doubled the anguish she felt.

"We wanted the school to go public with the sexual harassment case, but they wouldn't listen," one of the girl's parents said in the lawsuit filed at the Kyoto District Court.

School officials were surprised by the litigation.

"We were still trying to find out whether the girl wanted the case to be publicized and now we've been sued, so it's come as a surprise," a spokesman for Koka said.

The girl's lawsuit says she was a top sprinter who represented Kyoto Prefecture at national championships during her junior high school days. During a camp in August 2006, for three nights straight, her 57-year-old coach said he would give her a massage, but instead fondled her breasts and private parts. The girl complained and during a school investigation the coach admitted he had molested the schoolgirl athletics champ and apologized. He was on the verge of being fired, but died suddenly on Aug. 31, 2006.

After the coach died, other members of the athletics team began blaming the girl for pressuring the coach to quit, causing her severe mental duress, the lawsuit says.

（Mainichi Japan） December 11, 2007