A former junior high school teacher in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for abducting a junior high school girl and confining her in his car in June.

According to the ruling by the Maebashi District Court, Shinya Uchida broke into the home of his teenage victim, choked her and drove away with her in his car, Fuji TV reported. The girl attended one of the classes that Uchida taught.

The girl’s mother called 110 at around 1 p.m. on June 25 and said her house had been broken into and that her daughter, who had been at home that day, was missing. The mother said it looked like a struggle had taken place in the living room.

After reviewing street surveillance footage of a car parked outside the house, police tracked the vehicle and found Uchida and the girl sitting in the back of his car parked along a forest road in Takasaki at around 4:30 p.m.

The car was locked and Uchida refused to open the doors. When police smashed the window, Uchida, who had a knife, stabbed himself several times in the abdomen. The girl had bruises on her body and was barefoot.

The school said Uchida has been working as a full-time teacher since 2016. He taught mathematics and was in charge of the school’s tennis club. The vice principal told reporters that he was surprised and disappointed to hear of the allegations, and was quoted as saying, “Uchida was a hardworking teacher.”

In handing down the court’s ruling, the judge called Uchida’s crime “very self-indulgent and selfish.”

Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison sentence. At the time of his arrest, Uchida was also charged with attempted murder.

© Japan Today