The Fukuoka High Court upheld a death penalty given...

The Fukuoka High Court upheld a death penalty given to a 63-year-old man for abducting and murdering two elementary school girls in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1992.
Presiding Judge Junichi Koide rejected Michitoshi Kuma's appeal of a 1999 Fukuoka District Court ruling, finding him guilty of abducting the 7-year-old girls while they were on their way to school, strangling them and dumping their bodies in a mountainous area.
Kuma pleaded innocent in the case, in which no evidence directly showing he committed the murders was presented.
Upholding the lower court ruling, which said Kuma wanted to molest the girls, Koide said his act was "cruel, ruthless and brutal."
"He has a grave criminal responsibility for killing the two out of his despicable desire and has not shown any signs of remorse. The death penalty is appropriate if we think about the evil nature of the crime and the antisocial personality of the accused," Koide said.