Eighteen years ago, a defendant accused of murdering a third grade girl in a house in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, was sentenced by the Okayama District Court on the 6th.

The credibility of the confession at the investigation stage became an issue, and the prosecution sought life imprisonment, while the defendant pleaded not guilty, and the court's decision is drawing attention.

In 2004, a girl in the third grade of elementary school in Tsuyama City was murdered by being stabbed in her stomach at home. Was arrested and charged with murder and other charges.



Immediately after his arrest, the defendant confessed that he had stabbed him, but then turned to denial that he was a lie statement, and the credibility of the confession at the investigation stage became an issue in the lay judge trial.



The prosecutor's office applied for a video recording the state of the confession at the time of the interrogation as evidence, but it was not accepted by the court, and instead the document recording the interrogation exchange was read aloud in the court, and the confession was sentenced to life imprisonment as credible. Was sentenced.



On the other hand, the defendant has insisted that he was not guilty, saying, "There is no direct evidence and he is not the criminal.



The decision will be handed down at the Okayama District Court at 3:30 pm, and the court's decision will be watched.

Case outline and investigation process

The incident happened 18 years ago.



When a girl in the third grade of elementary school in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, returned from school and was at home alone, someone strangled her and was stabbed in her belly and chest and killed.



The police sent a total of more than 60,000 investigators, but the investigation was difficult and remained unsolved for many years.



After that, the police expanded the scope of the investigation and voluntarily heard from Defendant Shuhiko Katsuta (43), who was serving a prison for attempted murder for stabbing a junior high school girl in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, for causing serious injury. ..



As a result, he was arrested in 2018, nearly 14 years after the incident, because he made a statement admitting his involvement in the Tsuyama City incident.



In response to the interrogation immediately after the arrest, the defendant stated, "I followed the girl and invaded my house. When I strangled my neck, I was resisted, so I stabbed him with a knife."



As for the reason, he said, "I made a false statement because I thought that I would not be sentenced to death if I admitted it."

The trial at the trial

The trial began in October last year and has been held 21 times until late November.



The credibility of the confession during the investigation was at issue, with little direct evidence of the defendant's involvement.



The prosecution applied for a video recording of the confession during the interrogation as evidence, but the court did not admit that it was "not necessary."



Although the detailed reason has not been clarified, the defendant's lawyer may have considered that the recorded video would give the judge too much impression.



Instead, the prosecution made more than 40 still images of the interrogation recorded and showed it in court, and read out the documents recording the interrogation exchanges in court.



Three days after the arrest, the prosecution said, "I strangled the girl and stabbed her stomach once with a knife in her left hand. After that, she switched to her right hand and stabbed her chest three times." He pointed out that he spoke himself without being guided by a police officer.



In addition, about half a year before the arrest, the defendant revealed that there was a statement in a letter to his mother that he was involved in the case, such as "I wanted to see the girl's suffering face and strangled her neck for about a minute." He pointed out that the confession at the investigation stage was credible.



After that, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for "a cruel crime aimed at a girl indiscriminately."



On the other hand, in the trial, the defendant wrote in the letter was a myth, and when he admitted that he had stabbed the girl in the interrogation, he said, "I talked appropriately" or "I thought I would serve the other party." He said and complained that it was not true.



Defendant's lawyer also said that the defendant has the characteristic that he dislikes conflicting with the other party and talks with each other, and the content of the confession is information that can be learned from the media etc. He insisted he was not guilty because he was not the culprit because of some discrepancies.