Man loses appeal over 30-year prison term for arson-murder of 2 nephews

The Osaka High Court has upheld a 30-year prison sentence handed to a 54-year-old man for killing his two nephews, aged seven and 12, who died when he set fire to their house in Inami, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2021.

The court on Friday upheld the sentence by the Himeji branch of the Kobe District Court in February 2024 against Tomeyo Matsuo, Kyodo News reported.

According to the ruling, Matsuo was arrested at around 1 p.m. on Nov 20, 2021, the day after the fire, sitting on a park bench in Osaka’s Kita Ward. After his arrest, Matsuo admitted killing the two brothers, Yuki Matsuo (then 12), and Maki Matsuo (then 7)a nd setting the house on fire at around 11:30 p.m the previous night. He lived there with his sister (the boys’ mother) and her husband. At the time of the fire, the children’s father had gone to pick up their mother from work, leaving them and their uncle in the house.

The two-story wooden house was destroyed by the fire and investigators said a flammable liquid had been used to start the blaze. The bodies of the siblings were found on the first floor. The children, who were in bed at the time, woke up but were overcome by smoke before they could get out of the house. An autopsy showed they died of smoke inhalation.

In Kobe District Court ruling, the presiding judge said, “The defendant harbored resentment and hatred toward his sister and her husband, and sought to depriving them of their precious children. He has no respect for life, and his motives were selfish and malicious.”

However, he added that Matsuo had a mild intellectual disability and that the defendant had stated in his defense that his sister and her husband ignored him.

In Friday's ruling. Osaka High Court Presiding Judge Hisashi Ito said: "Killing his sister's children to vent his anger at her husband, who had ignored the defendant, was selfish and showed a great disregard for life."

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