JAPAN. JOBLESS MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SISTERS

Yukio Yamaji, 23, was sentenced to death for robbery, murder and rape by the Osaka District Court for sneaking into the home of a woman and her younger sister and murdering them.
"The crime was malicious, brutal and inhumane. There is no room for rehabilitation. There is no choice but to punish him to the maximum extent," Presiding Judge Masao Namiki said as he handed down the ruling.
Yamaji committed the crime for which he was convicted only two years after he was released in October 2003 from a juvenile reformatory where he was detained for fatally bashing his mother with a metal baseball bat when he was 16, court records show.
Yamaji sneaked into the apartment of Asuka Uehara, 27, and her 19-year-old sister, Chihiro, in Naniwa-ku, Osaka, in the predawn hours of November 17, murdered them and stole 5,000 yen in cash, according to the ruling.