JAPAN: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR MAN FOR KILLING WEALTHY WOMAN, BROTHER

in Japan, Presiding Judge Akira Kanaya of the Tokyo High Court upheld a decision by the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court in May 2009 sentencing former city official Kazuo Okikura, 63, to death for killing and robbing Hirokazu Obuku, 51, and his sister in a 2008 murder-robbery case in Akiruno on April 10, 2008.
The judge said in the decision, ''The crime was premeditated and was based on a selfish motive'' of trying to pay back a huge debt that he incurred from losing in mah-jongg games.