A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to 14 months in prison, suspended for three years, for helping her daughter hide the head of a man, who was allegedly murdered and decapitated in Sapporo in 2023.
Hiroko Tamura, 62, had pleaded not guilty to aiding in the abandonment of the corpse and allowing her daughter to film an act of desecration during her trial at the Sapporo District Court. Her daughter Runa faces murder and other charges for allegedly killing and beheading the man.
In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Shiro Watanabe said Tamura's role was not insignificant, given that she was in a position where she was able to stop her daughter's actions.
But the judge granted Tamura a suspended sentence, as her involvement "was limited to allowing the head to be hidden after it had already been brought home."
Runa allegedly stabbed the 62-year-old man in the neck at a hotel in the Susukino entertainment district sometime between July 1 and 2 in 2023, then beheaded him and took the head home in a suitcase.
Prosecutors demanded an 18-month prison term for Tamura, saying she played a significant role in the crime by providing a place to hide the head and abetting her daughter in concealing and damaging it.
According to the ruling, Tamura allowed Runa to hide the victim's head at their home between July 3 and 24 and consented to her daughter filming an act of desecration, in which she further damaged the head.
Tamura's defense counsel had argued that she was not legally liable for Runa's actions, saying the abandonment of the body had been completed when the daughter brought the head home. An appeal was filed following Wednesday's ruling.
Tamura's husband Osamu, a 61-year-old psychiatrist, was sentenced in March to 16 months in prison, suspended for four years, for aiding his daughter in the abandonment and desecration of the head.
© KYODO
20 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
I would think you would be charged with being an accomplice if you help hide the evidence of a crime.
diagonalslip
as for me, I once again have to suspend my disbelief, at the frequency of suspended sentences.....
ushosh123
Seems a bit lenient
Ryokai
The article should deal with why Runa killed the guy. Discussing the head, in isolation, so to speak, is bit pointless.
asdfgtr
Reads like a headline from a supermarket tabloid.
Reminds one of that classic American tabloid headline:
HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR
yoshisan88
I think if my memory serves me right. From news that I watched many cases the other person would only be charged with improperly dealing or decomposing a dead body. It kinda make sense because the other person did not play any role in the murder. However, you can also say that hiding the evidence of a crime should be treated as an accomplice.
Random
No surprise since the father also got a suspended sentence. smh
BertieWooster
A psychiatrist! A mental health "expert."
Nuff said!
BertieWooster
Just a thought. Is this psych still practicing?
u_s__reamer
Because of SM we have come to realize that there are very many people complicit in far more heinous crimes than this, who we know, but who get away with murder because of we the public's silence and looking away. When good men and women do nothing, "Justice" will be determined by the state.
kohakuebisu
Ah well, I now know the consequences of getting caught helping one of my kids hide a severed head, should they ever bring one home.
Based on what happened here, I am more likely to pick up a spade than my phone to call the police.
Fountain
Japanese sentencing is ridiculously lenient. Scandalously so, you could argue.
garypen
Are they all out of prison cells or something?
garypen
So...not actually "Nuff said"?
Yohan
Japan has sometimes really strange and lenient laws regarding sentencing people for committing serious crimes.
Suspended sentences for parents for hiding the decapitated head of a person who was killed by their daughter at their home?
Why did they not call police immediately?
In this case surely yes, I think so too.
masterblaster
Capricious judges and a capricious judicial system benefits no one (perhaps only the criminals).
Mickelicious
Ridiculously lenient on the parents... 'white collar' crime syndrome?
Shirokuma4812
Now, I guess we just wait to see what happens to the daughter? She did dismember a human being and kept his decapitated head in her house.
MilesTeg
I read somewhere that the daughter was the queen of the house. The parents let her do anything she wanted and succumbed to all her wishes. To be fair, they also said they were terrified of what she could possibly to do them if they didn't give in but they raised her and most likely created a monster.
buchailldana
The mum found a head in her house and wondered if her daughter had done something wrong.
Maybe just a little.
And then kept the head for over two weeks and videos her daughter defacing the head and gets a suspended sentence.
Seems very suspect