TOKYO (TR) – An elderly woman on trial for breaking into a temple in Adachi Ward and killing the temple’s head priest by burning charcoal briquettes has pleaded not guilty, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 14).
On the night of July 22, 2023, Junko Aoki, a 66-year-old executive at a stonemasonry company, allegedly worked with an accomplice to set 28 charcoal briquettes alight in the underground ossuary of the Genshoji Temple that her firm did business with.
The indictment alleges that the air was subsequently filled with enough carbon monoxide to kill the 70-year-old head priest.
At the opening of her trial at the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday, Aoki said of allegations of murder, “I am innocent.”
In their opening statement, the prosecution said that Aoki had a strong dissatisfaction with the head priest due to trouble surrounding a cemetery the company was developing on temple-owned land.
The prosecution said that she planned the murder with the company’s 52-year-old president. They stated that she carried out the crime by bringing charcoal briquettes into the ossuary.
The prosecution also revealed that Aoki had experimented with lighting charcoal briquettes beforehand. The prosecution said, “There was a risk of killing someone.”
Meanwhile, the defense argued, “[She] was framed as the culprit. [She] only went to the temple to do her job. [She] had no connection to the incident.”
The defense added that Aoki visited the temple with the president, but was working in an office on the premises. They claimed she was unaware that the accomplice had lined up charcoal briquettes in the ossuary and set them on fire.
The head priest’s wife and second daughter also suffered injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning.
