Appeal filed for former top bureaucrat accused of killing reclusive son

Sounds like murder to me.

Does an ex-ambassador get away with it?

Will we hear if he does?

"since his intuition told him he could be killed by the victim, he killed him by reflex."

And this amounts to self-defense? Only in Japan could such a weird and pitiful defense be acceptable in a court of law.

He definitely get no jail time.He is too far up in the food chain for that.

Anyone know what has happened to that other self-entitled twit,Iizuka?

Kumazawa, 77, was sentenced to six years in prison by the Tokyo District Court in December last year.

6 years for murder?? of his own son?? Kangaroo court

since his intuition told him he could be killed by the victim, he killed him by reflex."

And this amounts to self-defense? Only in Japan could such a weird and pitiful defense be acceptable in a court of law.

I agree.

He stabbed the son multiple times definitely doesn't sound like self defense where you stab and try to get away .

I thought there were an estimated 1.2 million Hikikomori in Japan? I know a few.

People, people, people. Try closing your eyes to the word "bureaucrat" for awhile so you can concentrate on other factors.

You are a 77-year-old. A 44-year-old has been committing violence against you for some time. And this time, he openly says he'll kill you. You seriously think he'll act on his threat, and anybody who thinks different wasn't there to assess the tonalities and other circumstantial information.

How closely do you want your decision to stab him to be scrutinized? Do you want nobody to give you the benefit of the doubt? Are you willing to auto-lose the case? Do you want the fact you were a retired "top bureaucrat" to work against you?

@Kazuaki

Fully agree with you.

The nut kid was going to stay in his realm and kill his dad, like in many stories appearing in JT.

One of my brother was getting closer to that state as he even battered my mother.

That parasit unfortunately went too far I beleieve, so I can understand the father's "wise" act to protect him and his wife perhaps (no one was going to save him).

Nice try to get his sentence reduced.... It seems that he preferred his son dead rather than a “deadbeat”. He got his wish now get on with the time.

The defense also argued that even if his conduct did not constitute self-defense, Kumazawa is not liable in the case as he believed he was in a crisis.

This excuse of "self-defense" and its "twisted sister" variant, "pre-crime" prevention, is used every day by "law enforcement" officers as their get-out-of-jail free card. On appeal, it might, at a stretch, even work for this old geezer, too, given his age and status so his real punishment will most likely have to be the remorse over his committing filicide all the way to his grave.

So his appeal trial is actually a trial de novo, but litigated at a higher level? So he gets to re-do the whole thing, fix what didn't work so well last time, and hope for a better result? While I am no fan of the Tokyo Prosecutors office for many other reasons and cases, I wish them success in Round 2. Hopefully they can get a stiffer sentence this time.