SHIGA (TR) – At last month’s opening of the trial of three men accused of abandoning a woman’s body in a freezer at a home in Nagahama City, all of the defendants, including the woman’s husband, admitted to the allegations, reports NHK (July 29).
According to the indictment read at the Otsu District Court on July 29, Hidenori Nonaka, 63, allegedly abandoned the body of his 53-year-old wife in a freezer at the home in 2020.
Meanwhile, Koichiro Iwase, 72-year-old husband of Nonaka’s sister, and his son, 49-year-old Tatsuhiko, allegedly aided and abetted in the abandonment.
In its opening statement, the prosecution pointed out that “other relatives of Nonaka’s held sway within the family. At their direction, Koichiro and others sometimes used violence against Nonaka’s wife.”
It went on to state, “When Nonaka’s wife’s condition worsened and she died in her futon on September 7, 2020, the family members discussed and decided to hide the body out of fear that the violence would be discovered. At Nonaka’s suggestion, the three of them put the body in a bag and put it in a large freezer that they had purchased.”
One of the reasons Nonaka’s relatives were able to increase their influence was that they had lied about stopping a yakuza group from demanding repayment of a large debt owed to Koichiro’s ex-wife.
The circumstances surrounding the instructions to use violence were that during a “telephone conference call” arranged between relatives to discuss the debt issue, Nonaka’s wife expressed doubts and dissatisfaction about being dragged into the matter.
Suicide note
The incident came to light when a 57-year-old man and his wife, 71, were found dead in their house in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture on April 1.
A suicide note left at the scene contained the name “Koichiro Iwase.” The letter went on, “I heard that someone died in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture. There is a body.” It added, “I will report it.”
Later that day, police found the body of the 53-year-old woman in a commercial freezer in the residence of Iwase and his son.
The next trial is scheduled to take place on September 16.
