TOKYO (TR) – A court here earlier this month convicted a 28-year-old woman over the murder of her U.S. airman boyfriend at his residence in Tachikawa City in 2018, reports Stars and Stripes (Mar. 6).
On March 6, presiding judge Yu Takeshita handed a 15-year prison term to Aria Saito over the fatal stabbing of Nicholas Vollweiler, a 35-year-old military police sergeant stationed at Yokota Air Base.
According to the ruling, Saito trespassed into Vollweiler’s off-based home, located in Tachikawa’s Nishisunacho area, while carrying two knives on the night of November 9, 2018. She then fatally slashed the victim in the neck.
The prosecution had sought a 16-year term. At the opening of the trial this past February, Saito admitted to the allegations.
Saito will be eligible for parole after serving five years of the term.
The judge said that Saito showed a strong intent to kill. The judge added that the defendant’s motive was the fact that Vollweiler was married and he sought an end to his relationship with Saito.
”I also wanted to die”
Police said at the time of the incident that Saito and Vollweiler began dating the previous May. At that time, she was living in Tokyo’s Koto Ward.
Upon her arrest, Saito admitted to the allegations. “Because I did not want to break up, I killed him and I also wanted to die,” she told police.
On November 3, Saito and Vollweiler got into a dispute, which, according to the Stars and Stripes report, included the defendant breaking some property belonging to the victim.
At that time, officers from the Tachikawa Police Station advised Saito to maintain a distance from the victim. However, she ignored those warnings and returned six days later to carry out the crime.
The judge suggested that Saito think about Vollweiler while she is in prison and later upon her release.
