TOKYO (TR) – The Tokyo District Court has sentenced a middle school teacher to 19 years in prison for the murder of a man in Edogawa Ward last year, reports Jiji Press (Feb. 28).
According to the ruling handed down on February 28, Kosuke Omoto, a 38-year-old a teacher at a public middle school, broke into a house in Edogawa and fatally slashed resident Masafumi Yamagishi, aged 63 at the time, in the face and neck with a knife-like object on February 24, 2023.
In the ruling handed down on February 28, presiding judge Yoshihisa Nakao said, “It was a dangerous and vicious crime in which the victim was repeatedly slashed in the face and neck without any consideration for his life.”
The prosecution had sought a 25-year term.
During the trial, Omoto claimed that he was innocent. “I am not the culprit,” he said. “I did not break into a house or commit murder, so I have no recollection of it.”
The incident took place about 200 meters from the school where Omoto worked.
In claiming his innocence, Omoto claimed that his finishing time on the day of the crime meant that he could not have carried out the crime.
However, judge Nakao mentioned that Omoto had changed his finishing time from work to a time after the murder occurred, pointing out that “it is precisely because the defendant is the culprit that he created a false alibi to deceive the police.”
The judge went on, “The motive is unclear, but he killed a man with whom he had no particular relationship, and his criminal responsibility is quite heavy.”
A key piece of evidence was a breathing mask found at the scene.
“A DNA type consistent with that of the teacher was detected from the mask found at the entrance, and it can be strongly inferred that [the defendant] is the culprit,” judge Nakao said.
