Masumi Hayashi, facing the death sentence for murdering...

Masumi Hayashi, facing the death sentence for murdering four people with poisoned curry at a 1998 community festival in Wakayama, denied the charges in an appeal hearing, breaking more than five years of silence. The 42-year-old former insurance saleswoman testified at Japan's Osaka High Court, answering questions from her defense team. The Wakayama District Court sentenced Hayashi to death in December 2002, finding her guilty of killing four people, including two children, and making 63 others ill by putting arsenic in a curry stew on July 25, 1998.
"My second daughter came in when I took a turn from a housewife to watch (the curry pot in a garage). I was with the second daughter all the time and I never left the garage", Hayashi said in response to the charge that she poisoned the stew while she was alone.