TOKYO (TR) – A court here last week sentenced a former executive of a stonemasonry company to 25 years in prison for using charcoal briquettes to kill the head priest of a temple in Adachi Ward three years ago, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 31).
At the Tokyo District Court on January 30, presiding judge Yuko Ito handed Junko Aoki, 66, to the 25-year term for a crime described as “extremely dangerous and despicable.”
Ito added that the crime was planned and the defendant had “a strong intent to kill.”
According to the ruling, Aoki conspired with the company president to break into a crypt in the basement of the temple on the night of July 22, 2023. They then ignited charcoal briquettes in killing the head priest, then aged 70, via carbon monoxide poisoning.
Aoki conspired with former defendant Ryuta Saito, 52, the president of stonemasonry company Kokushodo, for which she served as an executive officer. Saito had already been convicted in the case.
At the opening of the trial, Aoki pleaded not guilty to allegations of murder.
Presiding judge Ito said, “[Aoki] cooperated with [Saito] and committed the act out of resentment toward the head priest, who was an obstacle to her work, and love for the president, with whom she had a close relationship both professionally and personally.”
The prosecution had sought a 30-year term.
