A Singapore court has sentenced Ikko Kita, a 38-year-old Japanese hairdresser, to 17 and a half years in jail along with 20 strokes of caning for the "brutal and cruel" rape of a university student in 2019. This makes him the first Japanese national to face caning in Singapore, a controversial form of corporal punishment used for serious offences like vandalism, robbery, and drug trafficking.

The incident occurred after Kita met the intoxicated 20-year-old woman at Clarke Quay, a popular nightlife area. He took her to his flat where he raped her, filmed the act on his phone, and later shared the video with a friend. The victim reported the rape to the police immediately after escaping from the apartment.

During sentencing, Justice Aedit Abdullah described the assault as particularly heinous, emphasizing the victim's vulnerable state due to intoxication and incapacity to consent. The court rejected the defence's claim that the victim had initially consented to sex.

The case has garnered significant attention in Japan and on social media, with some expressing shock at Singapore's use of caning, while others support it as a deterrent against violent crimes. Caning in Singapore involves striking the offender's back of the thigh with a wooden stick, potentially leaving permanent scars.

This form of punishment gained international notoriety in 1994 during the Michael Fay case, where an American citizen received caning for vandalism despite appeals from the US government.