JAPAN. MAN TO FACE GALLOWS FOR MURDERING FRIEND'S SONS

the Utsunomiya District Court, Japan, sentenced Akihiro Shimoyama, a 40-year-old man, to death for murdering two boys in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, in 2004. Presiding Judge Susumu Iibuchi handed the death penalty to Shimoyama, who was accused of throwing Kazuto Kobayashi, 4, and his brother, Hayato, 3, from a bridge into a river, causing them to drown on September 12. Shimoyama's crime "was self-centered and we cannot find any extenuating circumstances." Iibuchi said.
The boys' father, Yasunori Kobayashi, 41, was a friend of the defendant, and he and his two children were living together with Shimoyama and his kids in Shimoyama's apartment at the time.
In the ruling, the court determined that Shimoyama abused the boys due to his discontent over the living arrangement, as Kobayashi did not pay any expenses. Shimoyama killed the boys because he was also afraid their father would find out he had struck the pair the previous day and would punish him, the court said. Prosecutors said Shimoyama routinely beat the boys. Shimoyama's defense had pleaded for leniency, saying the accused was in diminished mental competence on the day of the murder due to the influence of stimulants.