OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court sentenced a former cram school teacher Wednesday to a suspended three-year prison term for holding a former student as a captive for seven months under threat in 1995 when the victim was a junior high school girl.

Presiding Judge Takeshi Uegaki said that the defendant, Hiromitsu Wakisaka, 33, abused the teacher-student relationship he had with the woman, who is now 21.

"The actions (of Wakisaka), such as stalking the woman, were self-centered and inflicted great physical and emotional pain on her," the judge said.