A Tokyo-based Australian journalist and father was given a suspended prison term of six months by the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday for illegally trespassing into a building complex where his in-laws live in Tokyo¡¯s Suginami Ward in October, in what the journalist said was an attempt to check on his children after a powerful typhoon.
Presiding Judge Yuichi Tada said that evidence confirmed the illegal intrusion by freelance sports writer Scott McIntyre into the common area of the building where the in-laws live. McIntyre repeatedly called on the intercom and refused to leave despite warnings from police, according to the ruling.
Tada said that his ¡°criminal responsibility should not be taken lightly¡± and should not be concluded as a mere violation of the law.
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