A 27-year-old American man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for killing a 27-year-old woman in Osaka last year, dismembering her body and dumping the parts in several locations.
The Kobe District Court handed down its ruling against Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar on Wednesday. He was convicted of strangling Saki Kondo at an apartment in Osaka on Feb 16, 2017, Fuji TV reported.
He dismembered the body and scattered the parts in Nishinari Ward in Osaka, as well as Shimamoto town in Osaka Prefecture and in the mountains near Kyoto.
Prosecutors had sought a 13-year prison term for Bayraktar who is from New York and had come to Japan on a tourist visa. They did not indict him for murder because they could not prove intent to kill. Instead, he was charged with manslaughter and abandoning a body.
The court heard that Bayraktar met the victim on an online dating site and that after killing her, attempted to destroy evidence by erasing his dating site account and buying a saw to dismember her body.
Bayraktar’s lawyer argued that he didn’t mean to kill Kondo and had since shown remorse for his act, saying that he would have to live with the consequences of his crime for the rest of his life.
Kondo’s father expressed disappointment at the verdict, telling reporters that “the sentence is too light and the truth remains unknown.”
© Japan Today
31 Comments
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savethegaijin
That's it?!?!?!?!?!?
Brian Wheway
I feel very sorry for Kondo sans parents, not only have they lost there daughter, but to hear a the courts verdict and sentencing of only 8 years, is a bit of a slap in there faces, I just hope he does the full 8 years and not reduced for good behaviour.
robotxparty
Come to Japan. You can murder people for only 8 years of your life.
Alex Einz
only? what is wrong with legal system here....
timeon
"saying that he would have to live with the consequences of his crime for the rest of his life."
poor baby, we should feel sorry for his pain, right?
intention or not, remorse or not, he killed and dismembered a young woman, he should rot in prison for the rest of his life. I can't imagine the pain of the parents. I would use my savings and arrange with the local yakuza to wait for him after the 8 years
Deadforgood
Wow...8 years for a disturbingly gruesome murder...
JenniSchiebel
How is it possible to accidentally strangle someone to death?
He has to live with the consequences for the rest of his life? At least he gets the chance to. His victim never did.
Vince Black
literally getting away with murder
Speed
8 years later he'll be 35 and will have a long life ahead of him, which is much more than the girl he killed got.
What exactly was his motive for strangling her?
alwaysspeakingwisdom
"Prosecutors had sought a 13-year prison term for Bayraktar who is from New York and had come to Japan on a tourist visa. They did not indict him for murder because they could not prove intent to kill. Instead, he was charged with manslaughter and abandoning a body."
Please read the above. If the prosecutors had gone for Murder , they would have lost. However, the judge should have given the full 13 years.
One more point. It is really interesting that no one is saying the system is anti foreign now ?
damned if i do damned if i don't
darknuts
The Japanese legal system continues to be the laughing stock of the world.
Since when do Japanese prosecutors need to prove anything to convict?
Abu Esha
Because she is deemed from weak class women, same as a prosititute as she was with a foriegner hence the judge and prosecutor didn't deem her valuable. If it would have been a woman with higher status he would have been given 80 years in prison. Lets just hope his fellow prisoners give him a very bad time make 8 years feel like 50 years
Hallowed
What a joke. I would say the fact that he dismembered her body and made an attempt to hide his crime by scattering the remains to conceal evidence demonstrates a lot more than an accidental killing. These are not the actions of someone who had "no intent" to kill.
TigersTokyoDome
Have I read this correctly?? 8 years and the court says he killed her?! They could not prove intent to kill but surely if you scatter that poor girl around the country then that points to guilt? If he wanted a no intent charge he should have called the cops after it happened. He didn't so its murder with intent.
Ah_so
Even if they did not indict him for murder,, there is no reason not to have given him the full 13 years for manslaughter. His actions (cutting up the body) suggest some intent.
In the UK, he would have been charged with murder and a jury would have almost certainly found him guilty. Circumstantial evidence is sufficient.
Serrano
He had her head in a bag. Should have got a stiffer sentence like life in prison or decapitation.
mph-1212
This story pisses me off so much! If that was one of my daughters, I'd know exactly what I'd do when this slime bag is released from prison. Intentional act or not, he doesn't deserve life anymore.
ebisen
Yeah, and with good behaviour, he's walking among us again in 5-6 years. Doesn't this make you feel safe?
ospreyjp
Does anyone know the circumstances around the killing itself? Auto-erotic asphyxiation or some other extenuating reason he got such a light sentence?
Otherwise, on the surface of it this is an insanely light sentence. Distribution or even possession of certain substances would get you more time this in Japan. Sheesh, the sentence this person got really does boggle the mind...
tmarie
Wow. A foreigner gets eight years for murder. That’s how little busked this woman was to society. Sick.
kdotson1965
8 years is an insult to the girl and her family; a local would be looking at life or death. If any murder case warrent killing the offender it is one like this. Being a foreigner should not grant an animal any sort of special consideration within a civilized country.
Katarina Krakow
Sad and I don't get it.
Far too lenient.
Hiro
8 years is really too low. But his life is pretty much over in Japan. He can forget about ever setting foot inside the country again. Once you done a crime and were sentence, the stamp is forever on you. Also he definitely wouldn't like our prisons for foreigners offenders. He will go crazy in 1 year i bet.
Concerned Citizen
Only 8 years for this gruesome murder? This is one of the most shockingly lenient court sentences I can recall. It's almost an open invitation for would be murderers. 'Don't like someone? Murder them. You'll only get 8 years and then you're scott free as well as free of the problem person!'
The prosecutor and judge were probably bound by some legal technicality regarding intent. Knowing the Japanese who are sticklers for rules, they probably felt they couldn't come to any other conclusion. Which is absurd.
Something seems to be seriously wrong with either the law here or thier interpretation of it.
sensei258
WTF is wrong with the "justice" system in Japan?
sensei258
in countries that have a justice system he would have got more than 8 years tacked-on just for the abuse of the corpse
sensei258
come to Japan where expressing remorse is more important than Justice
602miko
He has a good lawyer. Only 8 years !??? Holy crap is that a justice? just like a vacation for me.
bullfighter
Since several posters have mentioned Britain, I did a little research. The average time served for murder in the UK is 16 years. (Because this is an average it means many serve less/more than 16 years.)
https://fullfact.org/crime/how-long-do-murderers-serve-prison/
Manslaughter sentences are in the 2-10 year but there is no mandatory sentence and some people do community service instead of going to jail.
https://www.lawtonslaw.co.uk/resources/what-is-the-sentence-for-manslaughter-how-many-years-could-you-face-in-prison/
In other words, the same crime in the UK or even a murder conviction would not necessarily result in a longer sentence. You could be convicted of murder in the UK and serve no more time than this guy got for manslaughter.
Joe
Find him and end him.
Worst case scenario is you will get 8 years. This is the only way to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future.