crime

Peruvian to be retried for murder of 7-year-old girl in Hiroshima

31 Comments

The Hiroshima High Court on Tuesday ordered a lower court to retry the case of a Peruvian man convicted of sexually assaulting and killing a 7-year-old girl in the city of Hiroshima in 2005. Presiding Judge Yasuhide Narazaki quashed the Hiroshima District Court's conviction of Jose Manuel Torres Yagi, 36, who was given a life term, and sent the case back to the lower court.

In the decision, the judge said the district court failed to perform a full examination of the case, noting that no deliberations were made on the credibility of prosecutors' investigative reports.

The three-judge high court panel acted on appeals from both the defendant and prosecutors against the district court's ruling.

According to the lower court ruling, Torres molested Airi Kinoshita, a primary school first grader, and strangled her to death in Hiroshima's Aki Ward on Nov 22, 2005. He later abandoned the girl's body in a cardboard box. Airi was on her way home from school at the time.

During the district and high court trials, Torres pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and molestation resulting in death. The prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Torres.

In a decision on July 4, 2006, the district court avoided giving Torres the death penalty and instead sentenced him to life imprisonment, saying that the number of victims was one and that Torres had no criminal record.

The focal point at the appeal trial had been whether the high court would give the death sentence to Torres.

During the high court battle, the prosecutors tendered new data on Torres' record of two sexual crimes against girls in Peru and sought the death penalty for him.

The defense counsel argued that Torres had no intention to kill or molest the girl.

Torres was arrested Nov 30, 2005, eight days after Airi's body was found.

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31 Comments
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Ridiculous. That guy is guilty.

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Ridiculous. That guy is guilty.

Because the television news, with information supplied by the police and prosecutors, told you so ? Wouldn't you rather know that whoever ends up in jail for this should be 100% guilty ? If there is any doubt about the previous convictions for this guy in Peru then we should be told the truth. How would you feel if it was discovered that these previous convictions of his were untrue ? Then there wouldn't be much of a case against him. If there is someone else who murdered that poor girl walking free at the moment then that would be a bigger crime.

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The guy told the police that he has the devil inside him who sometimes takes control of him. Thus it was not he himself who did the killing.

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In Japan it is almost unheard of for a High Court Judge to overule a conviction and send it back to the lower court. Especially in such a high-profile murder of a child by a foreigner. Therefore it appears that this senior judge has been provided with sufficient evidence to cast serious doubts over the prosecution of this guy.

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There is a serious doubt here. This Peruvian guy has nobody batting on his side. His family back in Peru were throwing accusations around about him, the Japanese hate him for being a child-killer and he was unemployed in Japan. They could easily have had him take the rap for this murder and he would have disappeared into the system. For a High Court Judge to order a retrial smacks of something not quite right here.

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The guy told the police that he has the devil inside him who sometimes takes control of him.

Could you name your source for this claim, please?

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Dogdog -

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060705a1.html

he had said he "heard voices of the devil,"

It was widely reported in the news at the time.

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Agreed. If the court is back tracking, they have something significant.

This is why the death penalty is absolutely WRONG. People are imperfect and thus so is any judicial system. Death is final. At least a prison term can be altered. In the end we must want to see the right person convicted of the crime and not just some guy. If he is guilty then life in prison it is. If he is not, then he should go free. That is justice.

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It was widely reported in the news at the time.

Yep, say no more, trial by media.

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"he heard voices of the devil"

That's it, then - the devil made him do it! Nasty fellow, that devil!

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Yep, say no more, trial by media.

And by peruvian justice. Did time because he "liked" kids too much.

So if he is a gaijin he is probably innocent (forced confession, bad translation bla bla bla) but if he was a japanese he should be hanged without retrial, right Dogdog?

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right Dogdog?

Nope, this has got nothing to do with race. Japanese or non-Japanese, the cases of trial by TV in this country are frightening, Before the defendent - note that word defendent - even takes a step into a court he/she has been found guilty by the media and the hearsay of the police who leak to them what the defendent has or has not said.

The court case then proceeds and the police offer the most flimsy of circumstansial evidence but hey why do they have to break a sweat, the accussed's guilt has already been decided on the 'Wide' show.

Hayashi and the fairground poisoning, and the original suspect in the Matsumoto sarin gassing are just a couple of cases of indegenes being tried by TV that come to the top of my mind.

Stop seeing race in every human action that happens in this country, you'll be a lot happier.

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Just out of curiosity...

Did they even use any kind of DNA or fiber analysis to actually connect this guy to the crime.... Or is it all based on a confession from some unemployed newspaper delivery guy that can't even speak Japanese....?

I haven't seen any reports of people convicted in Japan where actual scientific methods were used to establish a concrete connection between the suspect and the crime.... And we know DNA is never going to be 100% absolute, but a 99.999998% match is 10,000% better than strictly relying on these round-the-clock confessions....

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Or is it all based on a confession from some unemployed newspaper delivery guy that can't even speak Japanese....?

Yeah right ! This guy is really unlucky, in Peru he had 2 sex crime records and did jail for that and just after arriving in Japan he ends up living just next to the place where the victim was found.Very unlucky and propably innocent.

Stop seeing race in every human action that happens in this country, you'll be a lot happier.

Are you sayin' that race is never an issue on JT ? even when it involves a gaijin trial like this one ? LOL...

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the judge said the district court failed to perform a full examination of the case, noting that no deliberations were made on the credibility of prosecutors’ investigative reports

To me this reads as if the case was sent back based upon a technicality. Indeed, I would want the prosecutor's investigative reports to be challenged and defended in any case.

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There is a choice: 'Free him or retrial with jurors.'

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The establishment in this country (the police, the public prosecutors, politicians) are famous for using the television media to brand a defendant as guilty. Horie of Livedoor was a classic example. Hordes of journalists were camped out on the morning that the police and the prosecutors turned up at the offices of Livedoor to make their first search. That information should have been confidential and it should have been blasted in Horie's court trial. It was the same with this Peruvian guy, with reporters travelling to Peru to get damning interviews against him. This guy may well still be found guilty, but a lot of credibility should go to this judge.

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I agree with MIND, where is the DNA evidence? and I agree with NORTH. This stinks of a set up. Does a recent one spring to mind? Yeah, simple Jack and the little girl who was left to roam the streets alone.

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I agree with NORTH. This stinks of a set up.

I agree that there is a lot wrong with the Japanese judicial system, the media and the police, but the guy did stand up in court and say from his own mouth that he hadn't intended to kill the girl but.....

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This guy may well be guilty. But we all would like to see him found guilty with the correct court procedure.

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This guy may well be guilty. But we all would like to see him found guilty with the correct court procedure.

That's exactly the issue here and I would go further and say that I would like to see the human rights of the accused (presumption of innocence, no 26-day police internment or trial by media) protected during the process of criminal investigation and judical deliberation.

This country has the death penalty......

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but the guy did stand up in court and say from his own mouth that he hadn't intended to kill the girl but.....

on the back of sudden new charges from Peru when money exchanged hands and records were suddenly formed? Plus cops laying the smack down on his family in Peru and cops torturing him in Japan? Where is the vital DNA evidence? If there was any, it would have been submitted already. This sucks.

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Where is the vital DNA evidence? If there was any, it would have been submitted already. This sucks.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20051202a1.html

Man admits slaying Hiroshima girl Sweat on school uniform matches suspect's DNA

So you were at the trial in Hiroshima and can confirm to us that the DNA tests was not among the evidences ?

Good idea for a retrial. Next time he get death penalty.

PS: Hey wait we are on JT ! Police fabricated the evidence, got forced confession, faked the DNA tests, and even created criminal records in Peru....I really forgot that now !

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Rodney...If the DNA against this guy was 100% pure he would have swung by now. Do you believe what the Cops tell the papers even when they cannot back it up in court?

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I don't want to waist my time with you. I know JT is not really a place full of jurists, lawyers economists, and scientists...

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I remember this case. Torres is guilty as hell.

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Here's another question related to this case and related to how the prosecutors fix a guilty verdict through the media. How come every defence lawyer allocated to these high profile cases looks like a nutjob ? Just seen the defence lawyer on TV this evening allocated to the guy in Togane accused of dumping the body of that poor 5 year old girl. Yet again the defence lawyer looks as though he is homeless and was wearing what looked like a tea cosy on his head ! Guilty verdict by TV audience.

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"technicality"? In other words... Something is invalid... He is starting to seem like a "fall" guy for someone with a lot of money...

I question any situation where a little girl is walking the streets alone in the middle of the night.

We have something is America called an "Alabama Lie Detector" test!

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From my memory she was walking home late afternoon from school... (not in the middle of the night)

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He didn't intend to do it? Just what were his intentions?

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How come every defence lawyer allocated to these high profile cases looks like a nutjob ?

Because the accused are usually from the lower end of society and can't afford a decent lawyer. I suspect Joji Obara's lawyer was altogether better presented....

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