IBARAKI (TR) – The Mito District Court on Monday handed down a prison term of up to 15 years to a boy, 18, over the murder of a woman and dumping of her body in Ryugasaki City last year, reports TV Asahi (Dec. 25).
During the trial, the boy, who cannot be named since he is a minor, admitted to stabbing Yasuko Shinji, a 42-year-old resident of Ushiku City, with an ice pick-like tool used to kill fish and dumping her body on a bank of the Nishiyata River in the Sanukimachi area on June 30, 2016.
“As a random attacker, [the defendant carried out] an unreasonable and selfish crime worthy of stern condemnation,” the judge said in handing down the ruling, which is an indeterminate sentence of between 10 and 15 years in prison.
When the judgment was read, the boy gave a small nod and hung his head down.
During the trial, the prosecution said of the boy, “He wanted to stab someone. He stabbed her so many times his arm got tired.” The defense countered by saying that the boy tends to suffer from a social phobia that created difficulties in developing relationships. The crime happened by chance, the defense said.
A person out for a stroll found Shinji’s body floating face-up in a shallow part of the river. The body was attired in a short-sleeve t-shirt and jeans. She was not wearing shoes. Her chest and head had received stab wounds.
The boy turned himself over to officers at the Tsukuba Chuo Police Station in the company of his parents. He told police that he stabbed the woman before using his bicycle to abandon her body in the river.
