Suspected Japanese panty thief acquitted when accuser can’t prove stolen panties are hers

Panties’ “lack of special characteristics” cited as one aspect of insufficient evidence.

On June 17, Japan’s Fukuoka District Court handed down its verdict in a suspected pantie theft trial. Back in July of 2016, a woman in Fukuoka City’s Hakata Ward says she hung a pair of panties to dry on her balcony, and they later went missing.

The suspect, a 49-year-old resident of the neighboring city of Onojo, gave an inconsistent statement as to his whereabouts at the time prosecutors said the theft took place. He was also found to be in possession of a pair of stolen panties just like the ones the woman said went missing.

That might sound like a slam-dunk conviction, but the prosecutors ran into a problem. The panties the woman claimed were stolen are a model that’s readily available at mass-market retailers, with “no special characteristics.” And while the man has admitted to stealing a number of panties in the area around the woman’s condominium during July of 2016, he says he has “no clear memory” of specifically stealing underwear from her balcony.

Ultimately, presiding judge Torahiko Ota ruled that the prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to establish that the stolen panties the man was in possession of were the woman’s panties, and so the man was acquitted, thus avoiding the two years in prison the prosecution was seeking (though he likely still faces some sort of punishment for his admitted thefts).

Ota also pointed out that the woman did not notice that she was unable to find her panties until the police, ostensibly as part of an investigation into the thefts that had been taking place in the neighborhood, asked her if any of her underwear had been stolen, as opposed to noticing the disappearance herself on the day prosecutors claimed the crime took place. During the trial, she was unable to remember if she herself had thrown out the panties between the time of the alleged theft and when she noticed that she was unable to find them.

“You are being acquitted of this charge,” Ota told the defendant, “but I would like you to think seriously about the sort of life you should lead going forward.”

Most people would agree that it’s necessary for a modern judicial system to place the burden of establishing guilt on the prosecutors, and withhold punishment until a suitable standard has been met. At the same time, one could still come away from the ruling that thieves can avoid individual convictions by stealing conservatively styled, generic-looking panties, and enough of them so as to believably claim that they can’t remember any specific incident. We’re not sure what the countermeasure to that is supposed to be, except maybe writing your name on every pair of underwear you own, or splurging for splashy, distinctive couture lingerie to more easily prove that you’re the rightful owner.

Sources: Livedoor News/Kyodo via Jin, Livedoor News/Yomiuri Shimbun
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