Hawaii woman charged in sex assault of male Japanese student

HONOLULU, United States — A woman who recruited international students for study programs in Hawaii has been charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student, authorities said.

An Oahu grand jury on Thursday indicted 36-year-old Rika Shimizu on five counts of second-degree sexual assault and four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault.

Shimizu operated a boarding home for Japanese students who were attending school in Honolulu. Shimizu, of Japan, is in Hawaii on a visa, prosecutors said.

She assaulted a boarder beginning in October and lasting until February while the boy was bedridden for several weeks from a head injury, authorities said.

Honolulu police arrested Shimizu on Tuesday after the boy reported the assaults. Her bail was set at $600,000.

State Public Defender Jack Tonaki, whose office represented Shimizu on Thursday, declined to comment Friday when reached by The Associated Press.

The boy told police that Shimizu assaulted him at least 10 times, according to court documents. The boy’s injury had left him incapacitated, unable to go to the bathroom alone, prepare meals or change clothes.

Shimizu had threatened to claim the boy had raped her if he reported the assaults, according to the court documents. She also threated to get him expelled from school and the exchange program.

Micky Yamatani, the boy’s attorney, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the teen reported the assaults to his mother. She then contacted a friend, and the boy was taken out of the boarding house.

“This is a case of sheer betrayal of the trust this victim and his family endowed on this woman,” Yamatani said. “Instead of providing a healthy and nurturing environment, the defendant engaged in sexual assaults of this minor child.” /cbb