AICHI (TR) – In a case in which a man’s body was found stuffed in concrete inside a drum in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture three years ago, one male defendant claimed his innocence at the opening of his trial earlier this month, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 20).
Shigeru Katsuta, a 54-year-old resident of Komaki City, is one four defendants in the case. He stands accused of inflicting injury resulting in death. At the Nagoya District Court, on January 20, he said that the allegations against him “are not true.”
In its opening statement, the prosecution pointed out that Katsuta had forced Takashi Hiratsuka, aged 26 at the time, an employee of the company he represented, into debt and assaulted him on a daily basis in 2015.
The prosecution said, “The victim began working at the company where the defendant was the representative director and lived with him. The defendants used violence on a daily basis, finding various excuses. The repeated assaults left the victim’s right arm bent.”
They also claimed that he conspired with three other defendants to kill Hiratsuka by kicking him in the chest and stomach.

The defense denied the allegations, countering that the defendant himself had never committed any assault and did not know that Hiratsuka had died.
The defendant’s lawyer argued, “The main culprit was someone else, and they brought in the defendant to ease the sentence.”
Police working off a tip found the oil drum containing the victim’s body in Hirosaki in August 2022.
Two defendants have already been sentenced to prison for the incident. One of them is currently appealing to the Supreme Court. At the request of his defense lawyer, Katsuta’s trial was separate from the other three.