Trial begins for woman extradited from China over 2014 murder of nurse

The trial of a Japanese-Brazilian woman, arrested for killing a nurse, began at the Osaka District Court on Friday. Yuri Ketty Oishi, 34, is charged with killing 29-year-old Rika Okada in Osaka on or about March 22, 2014. 

Oishi has admitted to killing Okada but her lawyer on Friday said she suffered from a psychological illness and argued that she cannot be held fully criminally liable due to diminished mental capacity, Sankei Shimbun reported.

According to the indictment, Oishi left Japan for China, using Okada’s passport shortly before Japanese police issued an arrest warrant for her. She was detained by local police in Shanghai on May 27, 2014, for a suspected immigration offense. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with China and Oishi’s return to Osaka in police custody was the first such case since 1999

The court heard that Okada’s body was found in a rental storage facility in Hachioji, Tokyo, on May 21, 2014, after being shipped in a crate marked “doll” from Osaka.

At the time, the case attracted a lot of attention for its bizarre nature. Despite having around a dozen stab wounds, Okada's body had no defensive injuries -- suggesting she was stabbed after death or while she was unconscious. Her identity was established through DNA analysis of her blood.

The company that delivered the two-meter crate had been paid by someone using Okada name and the storage room’s rental fee was paid using her credit card.

Oishi had been at elementary school with Okada. Just before she went missing, Okada wrote on her Facebook page that she was going to meet an old friend whom she had not seen for a decade.

The trial will have seven sessions until March 7 and the court will hand down its ruling on March 14.

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