Yamashita Tomohisa suspected of criminal damage of property; case forwarded to prosecutors

Yamashita Tomohisa who is suspected of having committed criminal damage of property, had his case forwarded by the Metropolitan Police Department to the public prosecutors' office on 21 October. The case took place at 3-chome, Roppongi, Minato Ward, Tokyo on 25 June around 1am where Yamashita was suspected to have snatched the handphone belonging to a woman in her 20s after an argument with her and her male companion. Apparently, the woman had tried to record the exchange of words between them and Yamashita so the latter tried to stop it by taking the handphone away. Days later, the handphone was delivered to a police station by a staff member of Yamashita's agency.

Source: Asahi Shimbun Digital

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Actually, this case has been reported very extensively in many tabloids but the mainstream newspapers have not mentioned it so it was somewhat not proven that the case did take place and if the facts reported were indeed true. Moreover, it's not just Yamashita who was involved since Akanishi Jin and Nishikido Ryo were said to be there too and the confrontation was said to be between Akanishi and that couple. Initial reports also fingered Akanishi for being the cause of the problem and how Johnny's Jimusho didn't like Yamashita and Nishikido hanging around with him etc. There was also speculation before the Autumn 2014 drama season that Nishikido might be taken off from his current drama if he was proved to have done anything wrong. It was also said that private negotiations with the couple who were involved in this case failed and they didn't want to let this matter rest.

Anyway, I'm surprised that Yamashita was the only one who seemed to be held responsible for the whole saga while the other two seemed to have gotten off the hook. It looks likely that he did take the phone away but if there were circumstances in his favour e.g. he was provoked, he might not be prosecuted after all. It depends on the prosecutors now on how they view this case but criminal damage of property seems a less serious charge compared to theft which he was originally going to be charged for so the situation may not be as dire as it seems, for now.