A Japanese court on Thursday sentenced a former teacher at an elementary school in Nagoya to three years and six months in prison for taking voyeuristic images of female pupils as they changed clothes and sharing them on social media in a case involving a group of teachers.
The Nagoya District Court also found Shota Suito, 35, guilty of possessing indecent images of girls created with generative artificial intelligence from photos of real girls, in what is believed to be the first such ruling under the child prostitution and pornography law.
He was found to have possessed a mobile phone in March 2025 containing digitally altered images that appeared to show two girls with their breasts and lower bodies exposed, according to the ruling.
Suito was also convicted of damaging property by leaving bodily fluid on musical instruments belonging to pupils at the school where he worked between 2023 and 2025.
He admitted to all charges, and prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term.
Judge Takaaki Matsumoto said the motive was to satisfy a desire for approval from the group members and that “his criminal responsibility is considerably grave.”
The group came to light following Suito’s arrest in March last year. In the case, seven then-active and former teachers from Tokyo and four other prefectures were arrested and indicted.
Of them, two have been given prison terms, while two others were handed suspended sentences.
© KYODO
