JAPAN. MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER-FOR-INSURANCE MONEY

the Hiroshima District Court, Japan, sentenced Kiyotaka Oyama, a former company president, to death for killing his stepfather and wife in the city of Hiroshima to obtain a total of 73 million yen in life insurance money.
According to the ruling, Oyama, 43, hit his stepfather Tsutomu, then 66, on the head with a dumbbell at a parking lot in the city in October 1998 in an attempt to obtain 70 million yen in insurance money. Tsutomu died in January 1999.
Oyama also drowned his wife Hiromi, 38, in the bathtub at their home in the city to obtain 3 million yen in insurance money, the ruling said.
''There is no reason to avoid the death penalty because the plaintiff did not hesitate in deciding to kill (the two) and committed the murders in a calm manner,'' Presiding Judge Hiromichi Iwakura said.
Iwakura also said the crimes had shocked society because Oyama had killed the stepfather and the wife within a short period of time although the stepfather had devoted his affection to the plaintiff like he was his own son, and the plaintiff had been married to the wife for a long period of time.
The plaintiff's defense team said it would consult with Oyama over whether to appeal the ruling.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Oyama, saying the crimes were brutal and that there was no prospect of Oyama being reformed. During the trial, Oyama admitted to the killings but denied the motive for the murders was to get insurance money.