CHIBA (TR) – The male leader of a group of persons accused in the killing of a teenage girl in which she was bound and buried alive has been sentenced to life in prison by the Chiba District Court, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Mar. 10).
On Friday, the court convicted Yuki Ide, 22, in the abduction and burying death of Manae Noguchi, an 18-year-old resident of Funabashi City. “The defendant played a leading and indispensable role, and the result is a significant one,” said presiding judge Ryuhei Yoshii.
In April 2015, Chiba Prefectural Police found the body of Noguchi buried on a farm in the town of Shibayama. She had been missing for nearly one week. Her mouth had been wrapped with tape and her arms tied.
The results of an autopsy performed on the corpse of Noguchi revealed the cause of death to be suffocation. The body, which had no external wounds, was discovered at a depth of over one meter.
Among Ide’s accomplices were Shota Nakano, 22, and a woman, 20, who was a minor at the time of the crime. Both persons are appealing life terms previously handed down.
In handing down the ruling for Ide, the court said the case was “a cruel crime that tramples human dignity,” and that the defendants “deprived an 18-year-old of her life, and words cannot express the despair and indignity.”