HOKKAIDO (TR) – The Asahikawa District Court has sentenced a 23-year-old woman to 27 years in prison for the murder of a teenage girl two years ago, a proceeding that was dramatically interrupted when an angry spectator stormed the courtroom demanding the death penalty, reports TBS News (June 22).
Presiding judge Yuka Tanaka handed down the lengthy term to Riko Uchida, who nodded slightly as she listened to the verdict with her parents watching from the gallery.
The fatal incident occurred in April 2024 after the teen victim allegedly posted a photo of Uchida on social media without permission. Enraged by the post, Uchida abducted the girl in a car, confined her, and violently assaulted her. During the ordeal, the teen was forced to strip naked while Uchida filmed the humiliation.
Uchida then drove the victim to the Kamui Bridge on the outskirts of Asahikawa. She forced the terrified teen to sit on the bridge’s railing and berated her, shouting, “Die!” and “Fall!” before the girl ultimately plunged into the river below.
Prosecutors demanded a 27-year sentence, arguing that driving the victim to the absolute physical and mental edge, leaving her with no way out, constituted a direct act of murder.
Uchida, however, adamantly denied having any intent to kill. “I had no murderous intent whatsoever,” she claimed in court. “I didn’t push her off the bridge.” She maintained that the victim fell on her own after Uchida had already walked away.
Accomplice
Her defense was shattered by the testimony of her 21-year-old accomplice, who was 19 at the time of the crime and is already serving a 23-year prison sentence.
“She told her, ‘Fall by yourself, die quickly,’ so I believe there was intent to kill,” the accomplice testified. “Riko’s statement is nonsense and a complete lie from start to finish. The victim didn’t just fall on her own.”
In delivering the guilty verdict, judge Tanaka completely rejected Uchida’s claims. “Cornering the victim into a mental state where she felt she had no choice but to fall from the bridge is recognized as the execution of murder,” the judge stated.
Chaos in the court
As the judge was reading the verdict, chaos erupted in the courtroom. A man burst in, violently shouting, “This sentence won’t bring justice!” and “It should be the death penalty!”
“He was eventually pinned down by the people around him and shoved toward the window,” an eyewitness in the gallery said.
The man was subdued by court staff and hauled away by responding police officers. The dramatic disruption forced a 40-minute recess before the court concluded the session shortly after 4:00 p.m.
