WAKAYAMA (TR) – A court here on Thursday handed down a not-guilty verdict to a 28-year-old woman who had been accused of murdering her much older husband six years ago, citing insufficient evidence.
Presiding judge Keiko Fukushima ruled at the Wakayama District that there was no direct supporting evidence to support that defendant Saki Sudo murdered Kosuke Nozaki in May 2018, reports Jiji Press (Dec. 12).
In handing down the ruling, Fukushima acknowledged that the case was “suspicious,” but added that there was not enough evidence “to infer that the defendant murdered him.”
Nozaki, aged 77 at the time of his death, called himself “Don Juan of Kishu.” In several books penned by Nozaki, he claimed to have slept with 4,000 women and provided them a total of 3 billion yen in remuneration. Prior to his death, he ran several businesses. His estate is valued at 1.3 billion yen.
In its opening statement, the prosecution argued, “The defendant married Nozaki for his fortune. She killed him in order to obtain a huge inheritance through the perfect crime.” Prosecutors also said that she purchased kakuseizai (methamphetamine) from a drug dealer.
Prior to the incident, Saki had searched for terms such as “perfect crime,” “death of an elderly person” and “stimulant overdose.” She also searched for “text of a will if you want to leave all your assets to your wife.”
Prosecutors had sought a life-in-prison term.
Sudo asserted her innocence. “I did not kill [Nozaki]. I did not give him stimulants,” she said. “I am innocent.”
There was no evidence directly supporting the defendant’s involvement in the incident. The main points of contention in the trial were whether Nozaki was murdered and whether she was the culprit.
Presiding judge Fukushima pointed out that “it cannot be said with certainty that what the defendant received from the drug dealer was methamphetamine.” He also ruled that the defendant’s search history “cannot be said to be related to ordering methamphetamine.” He added, “It cannot be said that the defendant’s actions lead to the inference that she was planning to kill Nozaki.”
Furthermore, he added that “it cannot be said with certainty that Nozaki did not accidentally overdose when it was his first time taking stimulants.” He concluded, “There is no proof of a crime.”
Prosecutors indicted Sudo on May 24, 2018. She was accused of giving Nozaki a lethal dose of methamphetamine at his home. The cause of death was acute poisoning.
“It is unfortunate that the prosecutors’ arguments were not accepted,” said Kazuyoshi Hanawa, the Wakayama District Public Prosecutor’s Office Deputy Prosecutor. “We will carefully examine the contents of the ruling and, after consulting with higher authorities, take appropriate action.”
