Robbery-murder
gets death penalty
MORIOKA,
Iwate Pref. (Kyodo) The Morioka District Court sentenced a
30-year-old man to death Tuesday for killing two women in a
robbery-murder case last July in the town of Hirono, Iwate
Prefecture.
Presiding Judge Shinji Sugiyama said Kazuyuki Wakabayashi,
a house painter from the town of Gonohe, Aomori Prefecture,
deserved capital punishment as he "brutally killed two
people who were not at all at fault."
Wakabayashi had pleaded guilty. His defense had argued for
a life sentence, saying the murders were not premeditated:
He had killed them because the victims saw his face.
He was convicted of breaking into the home of Noriko Ueno,
a 52-year-old office worker, last July 19, killing her and
her 24-year-old daughter Yuki, stealing about 20,000 yen in
cash and about 80 items worth 45,000 yen, and abandoning
their bodies in the mountains nearby.