AICHI (TR) – At the opening of her trial, a woman accused of killing her former employer in Nagoya three years ago and stealing valuables worth more than 70 million yen has denied the allegations, reports CBC TV (Jan. 29).
At the Nagoya District Court on Thursday, Asuka Uchida, 32, admitted to abandoning the body of Koichi Abe, then 42, in the closet of the victim’s apartment Naka Ward. However, she denied the charges of robbery-murder. “I would like to completely deny the charges,” she said.
According to the indictment, Uchida is accused of strangling Abe, who ran a precious metals buying shop, to death in an his apartment in 2023. She then stole approximately 800,000 yen in cash and approximately 1,400 precious metal items and other valuables worth 74 million yen from the man’s home and shop.
Also on Thursday, the defense argued, “She strangled the man at his request, but she had no intent to kill him. She also received the valuables from him before he died.”
Abe is the former manager of a second-hand goods store. Uchida was once an employee.
According to investigators, Uchida sold the precious metals and other items that she had stolen at another store. She used about 50 million of the obtained funds for food and drinks at a host club, where she was fond of one particular host.
The prosecution pointed out that “money was needed to make the host she preferred number one [at the club].”
