Man acquitted in murders of mother, children
11/28/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

HIROSHIMA--The district court here Wednesday acquitted a man charged with murdering his mother and two daughters for insurance money, citing a lack of evidence and doubting the credibility of his confession.

Presiding Judge Keisuke Hosoda of the Hiroshima District Court said a "reasonable doubt" remains that Kuniharu Nakamura, 37, a former company employee in the city, committed the 2001 crime.

"There is no evidence that he was present at the crime scene," the judge said. "And his confession also lacks credibility since it went through unnatural changes."

After handing down the ruling, Hosoda said, "The suspect may not be completely free from suspicions, but we could not affirm that he was guilty."

The ruling marks the third time since 1978 for a district court to acquit a suspect in a case in which prosecutors were seeking the death sentence, according to the Supreme Court.
Nakamura was indicted on charges of murdering his mother, Sayoko, then 53, by strangling her at her home in the city's Nishi Ward past 3 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2001.

He was also charged with setting fire to her home around 3:30 a.m. using kerosene. His two daughters, Ayaka, then 8, and Arisu, then 6, died in the blaze.

Police questioned Nakamura for about a month, but were unable to come up with a suspect. The case took a sharp turn after Nakamura admitted to starting the fire in May last year after he was arrested over fraud allegations. He was accused of faking divorce papers so that his wife could receive welfare payments for child support.

Nakamura told investigators he was aware his confession could lead to his death by capital punishment.

But he retracted that confession after his murder-arson trial started in September last year.

"I confessed because the questioning was overbearing," Nakamura said.

In the final arguments of the defense, Nakamura contended that the real killer of his mother and children remained at large.

Prosecutors argued in the trial that Nakamura committed the crime to receive 73 million yen ($673,121) in insurance benefits from the deaths of the three.

But the court said it was highly unnatural for Nakamura to change from a man seeking the death penalty to commit suicide over his debts to a greedy man selfishly trying to obtain insurance money.

The ruling also said prosecutors produced no evidence that Nakamura knew beforehand the contents of the insurance policies on his mother and children.

The court said it cannot rule out the possibility that investigators forced the confession after finding no conclusive evidence, such as Nakamura knowing details of the crime that only the perpetrator could know.

"We acquitted him because we strictly applied the principle of 'reasonable doubt' to this case to prevent a wrongful conviction," Judge Hosoda said.(IHT/Asahi: November 28,2007)
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Benefit of the doubt favors man in family slaying

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) The Hiroshima District Court on Wednesday acquitted a man charged with setting a house afire and killing his mother and two young daughters in Hiroshima in 2001 to collect insurance money.

Kuniharu Nakamura, 37, was accused of strangling his mother, Sayoko, 53, pouring kerosene in the home and setting it on fire on Jan. 17, 2001, killing his daughters Ayaka, 8, and Arisu, 6. Prosecutors said he collected some