Joji Obara, a suspect in the death of a British hostess whose dismembered body was discovered earlier this month, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of drugging and raping three Japanese women.
Appearing before the Tokyo District Court, the 48-year-old company president denied charges of assaulting the three women last year in January, May and June at his condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The plea followed his first trial hearing in December, in which Obara also denied drugging and raping two foreign women in 1996 and 1997 at the condominium. The names of all the women have been withheld.