OSAKA (TR) – Prosecutors here are appealing a previous ruling that acquitted a 30-year-old woman of murdering her wealthy husband, who was known as the “Don Juan of Kishu,” reports Mainichi Broadcasting System (Apr. 6).
Last month, the Osaka High Court acquitted Saki Sudo over the alleged murder of her ex-husband, businessman Kosuke Nozaki, at his home in Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture, by administering a lethal dose of methamphetamine in May 2018.
On Monday, the Osaka High Public Prosecutors Office appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court as a result of being dissatisfied with the verdict handed down in March.
In the first trial at the Wakayama District Court, Sudo maintained her innocence. Meanwhile the prosecution presented circumstantial evidence, including that Sudo had searched for terms like “methamphetamine death” on her smartphone.
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, Nozaki ran several businesses. His estate is valued at 1.3 billion yen.
In upholding the first ruling, the Osaka High Court stated that the previous ruling was “not unreasonable” in dismissing the prosecution’s appeal.
