The Kobe District Court has sentenced a 30-year-old man to 18 years in prison for killing a 16-year-old boy in 2010.
Lawyers for the defendant, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time the crime was committed, had entered a partial plea of guilty, saying there was no intent to kill, Kyodo News reported. They said they will appeal the sentence handed down on Friday.
Prosecutors indicted the man last December after a four-month psychiatric evaluation determined that he was mentally fit to stand trial. He was convicted of killing Shota Tsutsumi, then a student at Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School, on Oct 4, 2010.
He was living near the crime scene at the time but moved to Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, after the crime.
Prosecutors said he stabbed Tsutsumi several times in the neck and other body parts with a cooking knife at around 10:45 p.m. Just before he was killed, Tsutsumi and his girlfriend were sitting on the sidewalk beside a vending machine, when a man sitting on the other side of the road approached the pair. Tsutsumi told the girl to run.
She returned and found Tsutsumi lying on the road at a crossing 70 meters away. Tsutsumi had sustained an 8-cm cut to his neck and died from loss of blood.
Six days later, the murder weapon was retrieved in a ditch roughly 200 meters southwest from the crime scene in Kita Ward. DNA tests revealed that blood found on the knife was that of the victim. The knife had been bought at a nearby supermarket by the suspect.
There was a 3 million yen reward for anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the killer, though police have not said if anyone ever collected it.
© Japan Today
26 Comments
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gokai_wo_maneku
18 years in prison for killing a 16 year old boy? What is it with Japanese justice??? Death by hanging is the obvious punishment.
Stephen Chin
Shota Tsutsumi age 16 did not get justice from Japan for his murder. Since the murder was commited thirteen 13 years ago, the murderer should have received 18+13 + 16 = 47 years imprisonment. Or to make it a round figure 50 years in prison.
Eastmann
so we know name of victim but not name of killer.
18 yeats is silly joke.
what kind of "justice" we are talking here about?
TokyoLiving
What about real justice???...
What happened with the good old gallows???...
Killers must be hanged!!..
jeancolmar
Agree with all of the above. If it is any consolation, the guy's 18 years will not be comfortable.
Fighto!
Scum is where he deserves to be. Shame he couldn't be put to death in this case.
Rest in Peace to the innocent 16 year old.
Mark
Good police work, 18 years is just a cake walk.
The victim is now turning in his grave and his mother is feeling it.
asdfghjkl
Horrible judge…….let’s all claim we stabbed the person in the neck with no intention to kill. What a joke. Should be life imprisonment or the earth penalty.
garypen
I'd like to appeal the sentence, as well.
It needs to be about 10 times longer.
Bob Fosse
If you hang someone you are a…?
NOMINATION
This happened almost 13 years ago. When was the guy arrested?
餓死鬼
The killer isn’t a minor anymore. Also not sure how one stabs another person several times in the neck and elsewhere without intending to kill.
Tsutsumi quite likely saved his girlfriend’s life.
Marc Lowe
Let's try this again...
The man got 18 years for killing a 16nyear old 13 years ago when he was 17. This is a fair sentence under Japanese law. However, the poor girl who was there should consider a civil lawsuit against the killer for the mental diress she certainly suffered. Seeing a lover's murdered corpse is pretty gruesome. This was an unfortunate event that ruined the lives off all three adolescents.
Mr Kipling
Then what possibly was the intent of stabbing someone several times in the neck?
wallace
I remember this story from when we lived there. A senseless crime. The time given should have been longer considering he avoided justice for so many years. The girlfriend of the victim is traumatised for life.
Garthgoyle
I read the article several times and I still don't understand when was it the guy was caught for the crime. Was it 13 years ago or was it recently?
eye
I got a teenage boy too and I can sympathize if the parent visits thelis scum who has been evaluated as sane in jail and murdered him there.
How many years would the revenging parent get I wonder? Would anyone be willing to bet it will be less/more than the 18 years the scum got?
I hope someone with a better understanding of Japanese law standards can shed light on the reasons behind such sentences.
Been here more than 10 years and still can't figure it out.
purple_depressed_bacon
Does Japan not have capital punishment? 18 years for snuffing out a life and ruining countless others...what a joke.
Sanjeev
it gives the vibe of the ending of a novel.
starpunk
At the very least.
602miko
18 years was not bad, hoping for more years longer so he could suffer painfully as the boy's parents felt after his death
Aly Rustom
Agree with the posters that say that this is way too short a sentence.
sir_bentley28
Bob Fosse
A hanger?
John
What a joke. It looks like the Law is only there to protect psychopaths getting killed or beaten up by the victims relative. There doesn’t seem to be slightest concern about justice and fairness in the law. Unfortunately, these characteristics are not unique to the japanese law.
Three goals
I was working in that area in 2010. Gee 18 years?? That's unbelievable. The punishment doesn't fit the crime! Japanese law needs to be changed!
Aly Rustom
Wouldn't that be a Hangman?
Or in this day and age- a Hangperson?