HOKKAIDO (TR) – A 26-year-old woman is on trial for allegedly assisting two other females to commit suicide inside a vehicle parked in Ebetsu City this past March.
The defendant is Saori Inoue, of no known occupation, who met the victims — a female university student, then 20, and a high school girl, then 17 — on social media, reports TBS News (Sep. 20).
The prosecution is seeking a three-year prison term for Inoue, who is from the town of Suttsu, for allegedly helping the pair commit suicide with charcoal briquettes that caught fire inside the vehicle in a parking lot for the Nopporo Forest Park between the night of March 17 and the following morning.
At the Sapporo District Court on Friday, the prosecution pointed out that it was the defendant’s assisted actions that made the two women’s suicides more likely to happen.
The prosecution added that with the defendant being the oldest of the three and in a position to have tried to persuade them to stop, bears a heavy responsibility for aiding in their suicides.
The defense requested a suspended sentence, arguing that the Inoue’s rough upbringing and family environment should be taken into consideration. They as well pointed out that she often thought that “there is no point in being alive.”
The defense added that she recognized the seriousness of the crime and was facing it head-on.
Before the incident
On around January 17, when Inoue was experiencing trouble with relationships, she met the two on social media. “It’s scary to die alone, so would someone like to die with me?” Inoue wrote.
The three then proceeded to discus suicide methods. Inoue later purchased a charcoal stove and other items on an online shopping site.
On March 15, Inoue met up with the two at New Chitose Airport. The three stayed at a hotel in Sapporo City that Inoue had booked.
The next day, the three stayed in Sapporo and went shopping and out for meals. On March 17, the three checked out of the hotel where they had stayed for two nights. They went shopping and out for meals again before visiting the parking lot.
How it unfolded
The three arrived at the scene in a car driven by Inoue. With the three inside, someone lit the charcoal briquettes with the intention being that they would inhale the fumes.
However, the heat from the briquettes heated the instrument panel inside the car, causing flammable gases to be generated.
When Inoue opened the door to get out of the car, a fire suddenly broke out. The two females remaining inside the car were then burned to death.
Police found the burned-out car on the morning of March 18. Inoue was collapsed on the road a few meters from the vehicle. The bodies of two females were on the backseat.
Police originally accused Inoue of murder.
“I will live with the cross of these two people on my back”
When prompted by the presiding judge, Inoue said, “I would like to express my feelings toward the family and friends of the two people who died.”
She then addressed the audience as follows,”I am sorry for speaking so late. I hate that I caused [their lives] to end like that, and that I was not able to support them. I will live with the cross of these two people on my back as I go forward.”
The sentence will be handed down on October 21.