A 25-year-old man denied Monday on the first day of his Tokyo District Court trial that he confined and assaulted four women on various occasions over a year's period from December 2003.
Yasuyoshi Ishijima, whose family name was Kobayashi at the time of his arrest in May, told the court that although he was with each of the women during the period, he did not confine or assault them.
"I deny that I confined the woman because she was free to leave at any time," Ishijima claimed. "She was not placed in a situation that made it impossible for her to leave."