crime

Man loses appeal over life imprisonment for killing taxi driver in Akita

9 Comments

The Supreme Court has dismissed the final appeal of a 57-year-old man convicted of robbing and murdering a 66-year-old taxi driver in 2015 in Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture.

In September 2015, Jin Azumaya was arrested over the robbery and murder of Yoshitsugi Tanaka, a taxi driver who was found dead by a road near a train station in Kazuno City, Sankei Shimbun reported. Tanaka was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen and run over by a vehicle.

During his trial, Azumaya insisted that his objective had nothing to do with money, but rather, he “wanted to commit a crime to quit his company” at the time. His lawyers argued that his behavior was irrational.

However, the Akita District Court and the Sendai High Court’s Akita branch ruled that Azumaya’s crime was, in fact, a premeditated murder.

Prosecutors said that Azumaya had prepared a car to escape the scene and wore a mask to conceal his identity. He was sentenced to life in prison.

On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

9 Comments
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“wanted to commit a crime to quit his company”

You couldn't just walk out tha door moron?

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Hand in your resignation if you want to leave a company. He really needs to find a better excuse than that. As the article stated he wore a mask and had an escape vehicle prepared.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

People are so kind and considerate that they’d rob and kill a taxi driver instead hurting the feelings or betraying a company.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

azumaya: boss, sorry but i won't be coming to work any more.

boss: why?

azumaya: because i murdered a taxi driver.

boss: so?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

if he hated his job so much, load the office coffee machine with a ton of laxatives and just sit at your desk, and don't ever come back the next day.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

“wanted to commit a crime to quit his company”

Wow. He didn't have the crumbs to tell his boss he quit, but had enough crumbs to stab and kill an innocent person multiple times? Makes sense.

"Hey boss, I quit!" always seemed to work for me.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@quercetum haahahha exactly!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“wanted to commit a crime to quit his company” 

Say what? It doesn't reflect well on Japanese business culture if these are the kind of extremes one has to go to quite one's job. However, considering most employees are enslaved to their companies it kind of makes sense that the only way out is to commit a crime although, he could have just punched his boss in the face. That would have been sufficient. There are some very strange twists on rational logic in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He could have asserted a better excuse. I am glad he’s out of the streets for good. I hope the family of the driver has come to find closure.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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