A murder convict who strangled a bar worker after a...

A murder convict who strangled a bar worker after a quarrel then chopped her body up was handed the death sentence in a ruling that overturned a lower court decision.
In handing down the Tokyo High Court ruling on Kenji Yokota, 53, Presiding Judge Shogo Takahashi said no leniency could be given to Yokota over the brutal 1999 killing.
"The defendant committed a murder less than one year after being put on parole (in a separate murder case). His character of overreacting to trivial matters cannot be reformed," Takahashi said. "Even though there was only one victim, the ultimate penalty cannot be avoided."
The decision overturned an earlier district court ruling that sentenced Yokota to life imprisonment for the crime.
Yokota, 53, strangled 21-year-old bar worker Akiko Saga in January 1999. Yokota and Saga reportedly quarrelled after he invited her to his home. He strangled the woman, cut her body into pieces and dumped her remains into the Arakawa river in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, and in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, the ruling said.
Yokota had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for a 1978 murder-robbery and had been released on parole in 1998, the year before he killed Saga.