JAPAN: DEATH SENTENCES UPHELD FOR WOMAN AND SON IN FUKUOKA

at the Fukuoka High Court in Japan, Presiding Judge Katsuhiko Masaki upheld the death sentences of Mami Kitamura, 48, and her 23 year old son Takahiro for murdering four people in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2004. The Fukuoka District Court's Kurume branch sentenced the two to death in October 2006.
Kitamura’s 63 year old husband Jitsuo, a former senior gangster, and their 27 year old son Takashi were also sentenced to death in a separate ruling in February 2007, but are appealing the sentences. The high court is scheduled to hand down its decision in March 2008. According to the lower court ruling, the four conspired to murder an acquaintance, Sayoko Takami, 58, by poisoning her September 18, 2004, to steal money from her. The district court also ruled that the four killed Takami's 18 year old son Tatsuyuki and his 17 year old friend Junichi Hara to silence them about the killing, and abandoned the three bodies in a vehicle in a river. The ruling also said Takashi and Takahiro strangled to death Takami's younger son Joji, 15, on September 16 that year and abandoned his body in a river.