SHIZUOKA -- A rapist who killed his teenage victim by setting her on fire alive must be hanged, prosecutors demanded Thursday.
The accused, Junya Hattori, is not contesting the allegations that he abducted, raped and killed 19-year-old Sachiko Yamane in January last year. However, his defense team is arguing that he can not be held responsible because he was under influence of stimulants he took after he snatched Yamane in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Prosecutors dismissed the defense argument as a "selfish excuse."
"The defendant did not take stimulants during the crime. His statement is a selfish excuse and an attempt to reduce the punishment to be handed to him," a representative prosecutor told before the Numazu branch of the Shizuoka District Court.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the drug did play a part in Hattori's decision to kill Yamane, but for a different reason.
"(After raping the victim) he did not know what to do with her. He was desperate to get hold of stimulants from his acquaintance and made a rash decision to get rid of her by burning her alive with kerosene," the prosecutor said.
According to the charge sheet, 31-year-old Hattori, of Numazu, abducted Yamane, who was bicycling home after finishing her part-time job at about 11 p.m. on Jan. 23 last year.
Hattori raped the college student in his car. He then took her to a secluded part of the city and doused kerosene over the teenager's head and killed her by setting her on fire at about 2 a.m.
Hattori, who was serving time in jail after being convicted of a hit-and-run case, was charged over the brutal murder of Yamane in July 2002. (Compiled from Mainichi and wire reports, Japan, Oct. 9, 2003)
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031009p2a00m0dm030000c.html
The accused, Junya Hattori, is not contesting the allegations that he abducted, raped and killed 19-year-old Sachiko Yamane in January last year. However, his defense team is arguing that he can not be held responsible because he was under influence of stimulants he took after he snatched Yamane in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Prosecutors dismissed the defense argument as a "selfish excuse."
"The defendant did not take stimulants during the crime. His statement is a selfish excuse and an attempt to reduce the punishment to be handed to him," a representative prosecutor told before the Numazu branch of the Shizuoka District Court.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the drug did play a part in Hattori's decision to kill Yamane, but for a different reason.
"(After raping the victim) he did not know what to do with her. He was desperate to get hold of stimulants from his acquaintance and made a rash decision to get rid of her by burning her alive with kerosene," the prosecutor said.
According to the charge sheet, 31-year-old Hattori, of Numazu, abducted Yamane, who was bicycling home after finishing her part-time job at about 11 p.m. on Jan. 23 last year.
Hattori raped the college student in his car. He then took her to a secluded part of the city and doused kerosene over the teenager's head and killed her by setting her on fire at about 2 a.m.
Hattori, who was serving time in jail after being convicted of a hit-and-run case, was charged over the brutal murder of Yamane in July 2002. (Compiled from Mainichi and wire reports, Japan, Oct. 9, 2003)
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031009p2a00m0dm030000c.html
