TOCHIGI (TR) – A court here last week handed a 29-year-old man from Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture a 24-year prison term for the murder of a high school girl and the abandoning of her corpse inside a rented vehicle last year.
At the Utsunomiya District Court on October 18, presiding judge Toshifumi Takioka handed Tatsuya Yasuzumi, of no known occupation, the 24-year prison term for the murder Azuki Sakamaki, then aged 15, and abandoning of her corpse.
“This was a brutal crime based on a strong intent to kill,” judge Takioka said. The prosecution had sought a 28-year term.
According to the ruling, the pair, who became acquainted on social media, first met on October 17, 2023. Yasuzumi strangled her that night inside the rented vehicle while it was parked in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. He then drove to the town of Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture with the body inside.
On the morning of October 19, 2023, police found a suspicious-looking car parked in Kaminokawa.
As officers approached the vehicle, they found Yasuzumi behind the wheel in the driver’s seat. During questioning, the body of Sakamaki was found inside.
Dressed in her school uniform, the body of Sakamaki, who is from Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, had cuts and bruises. An autopsy revealed that Sakamaki was strangled to death around October 17 of that year.
Police accused Yasuzumi of abandoning a corpse upon the discovery of the body. He was later accused of murder.
The arrest was not the first for Yasuzumi. In 2015, he was accused of kidnapping a sixth-year elementary school girl and carrying out an indecent assault after driving with her in a car in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
“The fear and regret of the victim, whose future was suddenly cut short, are immeasurable,” judge Takioka added.
