The Tokyo District Court has sentenced a 29-year-old woman to 16 years in prison for killing her 48-year-old boyfriend at his apartment in Tokyo's Chuo Ward in February.
The court convicted Azuha Kikuchi, a former bar hostess, of killing her boyfriend Yuji Hirata, Fuji TV reported. Kikuchi had confessed to the crime, saying she got angry with Hirata after he told her he wanted to break up with her.
Hirata was found bleeding profusely and lying on the floor of his apartment. Kikuchi said she stabbed him in the stomach and other parts of his body with a knife as he slept, and then bludgeoned his head with a metal bat several times.
Kikuchi was arrested after a metal bat was found in the apartment with the body, and a bloody knife was discovered in her purse.
© Japan Today
28 Comments
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TravelingSales
If you break up with a woman, walk away. Don't go to sleep in her apartment. Don't let her come into yours. Don't give her access to your valuable or important items (body parts or otherwise).
Common sense, guys!
sensei258
Because she told the judge "Yes I stabbed him repeatedly, and bashed his head with a baseball bat, but I didn't mean to kill him". Then she showed "strong remorse" by putting on a crying act, so the judge "understood" and gave her a light sentence.
EyeOfTheCat
Too little.
zones2surf
OK, now I am curious. What is with the specificity of a sentence of 16 years? The ex-Buddhist monk was just recently convicted of murdering a woman he knew and he also got a 16 year sentence. Not 15 and not 20. Why 16? Any Japan legal experts out there know?
And just as importantly, why was it 16 years and not something much longer?
A.N. Other
It's probable that he'd been toying with the idea of breaking up with her for a while - but - he hadn't planned on telling her at that point. Instead, it cropped up in conversation. Maybe it wasn't an easy decision for the guy, which is why he let her stay in his apartment, or maybe they lived together.
In any case, being killed for wanting to break up is not a reasonable or predictable response!
sensei258
Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.
incognito12
'Fatal Attraction' on steroids.
Maria
Death penalty is not given to single-murder crimes is it?
kurisupisu
Seems a brutal murder and why not the death penalty?
DaDude
She deserves to be off the streets for the remainder of her life.
AsianGaijinYesWeExist
Wow. My ex let me off easy.
Nobody deserves to die over a broken relationship.
khulifi
I guess as per the guide book ...
gogogo
Too light
wontond
He was probably more a sugar daddy than a boyfriend.
smithinjapan
Better than the usual 2 - 3 years for murder, but still not enough.
TheGodfather
RIP Hirata-sama!! :-(
sensei258
You are probably right Wontond, she was told to get off the gravy train and was having none of that
ArtistAtLarge
There is certainly no mystery why he wanted to break up.
Jalapeno
Some deaths are painless. This ain't one of them.
Wicho
So shocking.. the last 7 top stories on the crime section, all are kind of family related...
Dr. Jimmy
And if this were the reverse situation, also 16 years...?
Speed
Why does killing your own defenseless child garner a 7 year sentence but killing a full grown adult get you only 16?
Shaolin74
Interesting as 'she' actually used to be a 'he' before undergoing gender reassignment. Hence the level of violence in this case.
David Blue
If she loved him why would she do this? I think she truly hated the man!
Steve Crichton
Maybe the lenient sentence because it is considered a crime of passion so to speak. Well it works that way in France. Anyways it was very violent and somewhat premeditated and she certainly made sure of it so life, as forever, would be more appropriate.
Steve Crichton
Ok not life whoever gave me the thumbs down.. Japanese women have the right to kill their children and partners and let it be with impunity. Ok fine.
Maria
Misogynistic, uninformed, generalising, one-sided nonsense, which would not be tolerated by other posters (quite rightly) if it were warning women against all men.
I hope everyone who id trying to get out of an unhealthy or abusive relationship exercises enough common sense and willpower to keep well away from the ex.