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A 27-year-old former Osaka policeman was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Osaka District Court on Tuesday for murdering his 23-year-old girlfriend in January this year.
The court heard that the ex-officer, Takashi Mizuuchi, strangled to death his girlfriend Hikaru Shirata at her apartment in Higashisumiyoshi Ward at around 8 a.m. on Sunday Jan 25, Sankei Shimbun reported. Mizuuchi used a belt to strangle Shirata who worked at a hospital.
The victim's body, fully clothed, was found in the bathtub at around 11 a.m. after the apartment building manager received a call from her workplace expressing concern that she hadn't shown up for work and that they could not contact her.
Mizuuchi, who has been married to another woman since August 2014, confessed to killing Shirata and said he got angry after Shirata talked about ending their relationship and hinted she would tell his wife about their affair.
Mizuuchi's lawyer had argued that his client had lost his temper and that the murder was not premeditated.
In handing down the sentence, the presiding judge said it was an evil act, made even worse since a policeman is supposed to protect people's lives.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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SenseNotSoCommon
J cops shine again.
MarkG
Why kill....that's just so stupid! How many lives are ruined or severely damaged beside Hikaru's?
yoshisan88
18 years in prison for murder is too lenient. Especially he used to be a cop. Should be life with a minimum term of at least 25 years.
nath
I wonder if his wife found out yet.
Aly Rustom
He's not going to be asking anyone for their IDs anytime soon
nakanoguy01
so the police force had a hand in this killing? an idiot who happened to be a police officer killed a woman. a person's profession, ethnicity or citizenship has nothing to do with whether or not they will commit a crime. that's the same idiotic line of thinking that labels all foreigners as criminals just because a few commit crimes.
Peace Out
@yoshisan88
Agreed.
Cops should not get special treatment in any way, shape or form, for better or worse.
Life should mean LIFE. If its less than LIFE, then it should be called something else, such as an indefinite sentence, minimum 25 years.
Assuming there was no forced confession, I would prefer life, as in LIFE.
yoshisan88
Yours is right. However, I think usually on the news it says something 'Life in prison with a minimum term of xx years.'.
I just did a little 'google' and there is lots of information about 'Life Imprisonment' on wikipedia. I think the 'minimum term' acutally means 'Minimum to serve before eligibilty for requesting parole' Since I am in Australia, the judge can give the gulity 10, 20, 25 years or never. This explains what I heard on news.
Peace Out
@TheGodfather
A man owns neither his wife nor his mistress.
Not in a Japanese prison. Or were just fantasizing? If so, stop please.
Fantasizing again? There are lots of good reasons why a supervisor might go check on an employee at home. Who knows how many lives have been saved over the years by such supervisors?
MikeRowave
nath
Or maybe you haven't been here long enough. There are reasons both ways - seems like a cultural difference to me.
MikeRowave
Care to give me a good reasom why my boss would ever come to my house uninvited?
Kobe White Bar Owner
18 year for MURDER, out in 9........... Filth taking care of there own!
Disillusioned
So, he was married and this was his bit on the side? Is it any wonder there are so many single women in Jaoan?
bookowls
No. Try reading the story properly.
smartacus
MikeRowave
If you had not shown up for work when you were expected, maybe to give an important presentation or meet a client, or did not answer your phone, it would be quite proper for your boss or a colleague to come to your home to see if you were OK, especially if you live alone. You could have had a stroke, heart attack or even worse.
I live alone and if I had a stroke, for example, and was incapacitated, I would certainly hope someone would come to see if I was OK.