Groper's stinky body odor gave him away

KYOTO--The distinctive body odor of a 21-year-old Maritime Self-Defense Force member was his undoing in a case of sexual molestation.

The victim told the district court here that she hardly saw the face of the man when he molested her, but could recognize him from his musky smell, which she likened to that of the "inside of a boxing glove."

The court ruled Tuesday that her testimony was credible and sentenced Taku Uemura to two years imprisonment, suspended for four years.

Prosecutors had sought a three-year term.

The incident occurred near the woman's apartment in Uji in the prefecture last June.

Uemura's strong body odor was about the only lead police had in the case.

The woman, who is in her 20s, testified that she could not see the offender's face because he had a cap pulled down.

But she could not forget his sweaty body odor even after he fled the scene.

Uemura apparently was so confident he would not get caught that he approached the woman later with his face clearly visible and struck up a conversation with her.

She immediately caught a whiff of his body odor and realized he was the man who had groped her earlier.

Presiding Judge Atsushi Miwa ruled the woman's recollection of the event, coupled with her statements about Uemura's body smell, conclusively proved that the MSDF member was the perpetrator.

"It was a pretty strong and extremely distinctive odor," the judge said.(IHT/Asahi: March 27,2008)