the Japanese Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for Nobuyuki Sawamoto

the Japanese Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for Nobuyuki Sawamoto, a 51-year-old former construction worker, for murdering two Filipino women during a robbery. The Tsu District Court had sentenced Sawamoto to death in March 2000. Sawamoto who was debt-ridden, was convicted of strangling the women, both 24-year-old bar hostesses, in their apartment in Mie Prefecture on December 25, 1998, and stealing about 13,000 yen in cash and some jewelry from them in conspiracy with two men. 
The ruling was upheld by the Nagoya High Court in May 2001.
During the hearing at the top court's No. 3 Petty Bench, the defense counsel had requested a lighter sentence, saying he did not play a leading role in the cases. Sawamoto was also convicted of stealing 19 million yen during a robbery of a pachinko pinball parlor in Nagoya in May that year, inflicting serious injuries on a 50-year-old employee, in conspiracy with one of the two men.