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Prosecution seeks life term for man accused of killing woman, dumping corpse in Meguro lake

Yasunobu Ikeda
Yasunobu Ikeda has been accused of murdering Tokiko Abe, 88, and dumping her corpse in a lake in Meguro Ward last year (TV Asahi)

TOKYO (TR) – The prosecution in a trial for a 29-year-old man accused in the killing of an elderly woman whose dismembered corpse was found in Meguro Ward last year has revealed that it is seeking a life-in-prison sentence in the case.

At a hearing at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, the prosecution described the motivation of Yasunobu Ikeda as “selfish” in the killing of 88-year-old Tokiko Abe, whose corpse was found in a lake in Himonya Park in June of last year.

“There are no circumstances that will allow for leniency,” the prosecution said in requesting the life term.

Ikeda has been accused of murder-robbery. At the opening of his trial last week, he admitted to killing Abe but denied robbing her of 350,000 yen in cash as claimed by the prosecution.

The prosecution also said that the defendant has not offered an apology to Abe’s family and refused to comment on details of the case.

Human body part floating in lake

On June 23, 2016, police received a tip in the morning from a visitor to the park about what appeared to be a human body part floating in the lake. Officers arriving at the scene subsequently recovered two feet, two hands, a head and part of a lower back.

According to the indictment, the defendant entered Abe’s residence, located about 500 meters away from the crime scene in the Nozawa area of Setagaya Ward, on June 20. He then strangled her to death before dismembering her corpse with a knife. The body was then dumped in the lake the following day.

The judgment in the case is expected on September 29.