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Court reduces prison term for ex-nurse, 34, for murder of mother, carving up corpse

OSAKA (TR) – A court here last month reduced the prison term previously handed to a 33-year-old former nurse over the murder of her mother and destruction of her corpse three years ago, reports Mainichi Broadcasting System (Jan. 27).

On January 26,  the Osaka High Court handed Nozomi Kiryu, 34, a prison term of 10 years, overturning a previous sentence of 15 years.

In the initial trial, Kiryu denied killing her mother, 58-year-old Shinobu. However, she admitted to murder in the appeal.

In handing down the ruling in the appeal, presiding judge Hiromichi Iwakura said, “[The defendant] killed her mother to break the iron grip she had on her life.”

Nozomi Kiryu (Twitter)

Limbs and head not found

On January 19 and 20, 2018, Kiryu used an unspecified means to kill her mother at the residence they shared in Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture.

That March, a passerby to a riverbed located about 250 meters from the residence discovered a human torso. Two months later, the results of a DNA analysis confirmed that the torso belonged to Shinobu.

Shinobu’s limbs and head were not found. However, police found traces of her blood in the bathroom of the Moriyama residence.

Police later arrested Nozomi, who moved to Kusatsu City after the incident, on suspicion of abandoning and destruction of a corpse.

“Disregarded the dignity of the victim”

At the opening of her trial at the Otsu District Court that September, she admitted to those allegations. That same month, police accused her of murder. Later in the trial, she denied that allegation.

In handing down the first ruling last year, presiding judge Naoki Onishi said that the crimes of Nozomi Kiryu committed upon her mother, 58-year-old Shinobu, “were brutal and disregarded the dignity of the victim.”

In recognizing murder, judge Onishi said that the defendant was motivated by her mother’s refusal to accept her desire to become a nurse.

“Remorse for your sins”

The defense appealed the ruling. In reading the ruling the in the appeal, judge Iwakura emphasized the “excessive interference from your mother in becoming a nurse” in overturning the previous 15-year sentence.

“Given the events that led up to the crime, your [murder] confession and remorse for your sins, some sympathy can be found,” the judge said.

As the judge spoke, Kiryu wept in the courtroom. “You have to decide your own way of re-entering society,” he said. “Don’t miss this chance.”