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Kaoru Kobayashi (小林 薫 Kobayashi Kaoru)
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Born
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November 30, 1968
Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka |
Died
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February 21, 2013 (aged 44)
Osaka Detention Center |
Cause of death
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Death penalty (Hanging)
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Criminal charge
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Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Homicide (2 counts of
murder and sexual assault resulting to death), Theft and Intimidation, Guilty
to corpse (2 counts of damage and abandonment)
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Criminal penalty
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Death by hanging
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Kaoru Kobayashi
(小林 薫 Kobayashi Kaoru, November 30, 1968 – February 21,
2013) was a local newspaper delivery man who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and
murdered Kaede Ariyama (有山 楓 Ariyama Kaede), a seven-year-old first-grade
student from the Japanese city of Nara. Kobayashi already had a record as a
sexual offender at that time. Kobayashi was tried and convicted of his crimes.
He was executed by hanging at Osaka Detention Center on February 21, 2013.
Early
life
Kobayashi
was born in 1968, in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka. Because his family was poor, he
worked as a paperboy since his childhood. His mother died in 1978. In 1989, he
was convicted of sexually assaulting eight children. He was sentenced to a
suspended sentence of 2 years imprisonment. In October 1991, he attempted to
kill a five year old girl and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He was
paroled on November 9, 1995 and officially released on July 23, 1996.
Kobayashi
had worked at a newsstand for Asahi Shinbun in the Tomio area, between
March and July 2000, so he knew his way around the Ikoma-Tomio area very well.
At the time of the murder, he was employed as a newspaper deliveryman for Mainichi
Shimbun in the Ikoma district of Nara Prefecture.
Kidnapping
and murder
On
November 17, 2004, in the Tomio section of Nara, Kobayashi kidnapped Kaede
Ariyama, a student at Tomio North Elementary School, while she traveled from
her school to her home. The kidnapping occurred in close proximity to Nara
Prefecture's west-side police station. Using the girl's cellular phone, he sent
Kaede's photograph to her mother with the message: "I've got your
daughter".
Kobayashi
murdered Kaede and dumped her body in the town of Heguri in the Ikoma District
of Nara Prefecture. Her body was found that night. The autopsy revealed the
cause of death to be drowning. The water collected in Kaede's lungs was not
dirty, so it was assumed that Kobayashi had drowned her in a sink or bathtub.
Also, it appeared that he had undressed Kaede before murdering her, and then
re-dressed her after she was murdered.
There
were abrasions on Kaede's hands and feet, and several of her teeth were
missing. It was assumed that the abrasions had been made post-mortem by the
suspect. The removal of the teeth was also performed post-mortem.
On
December 14, 2004, Kobayashi sent an email from Kaede's cellular phone to her
mother's cellular phone, saying "I'll take her baby sister next." An
image of Kaede was included in the e-mail.
He
had shown off a photograph of Kaede to a waitress and customers in a local bar,
claiming to have gotten the photograph from a website.
Arrest
On
December 30, 2004, Kobayashi, who lived in the town of Kawai in Kitakatsuragi
District in Nara Prefecture, was arrested for kidnapping. The suburbs of
Kitakatsuragi along with Tomio and Ikoma are all in the northwest area of Nara
Prefecture.
Kobayashi
had sent the victim's photograph from her cellular phone to his own. His use of
the victim's phone helped speed his arrest because the local cell phone towers
logged the messages sent from the phone.
He
was arrested after he had finished his morning paper route, distributing the
news that the suspect would be arrested soon.
The
police confiscated from his room a video and a magazine, containing child
pornography. In addition, Kaede's cellular phone and randosel were discovered.
In his room, there was a considerable amount of underwear, which had been
stolen by him between June and December 2004.
A
witness saw Kaede walking to Kobayashi's car, which suggested that they knew
each other. However, Kobayashi said "I would have kidnapped anybody."
On
January 19, 2005, Kobayashi was prosecuted for kidnapping. Because he had
previous sexual offenses involving girls, public attention turned to passing a
law in Japan similar to Megan's Law in the United States.
Reaction
Mainichi
Shimbun
In
the wake of the arrest, it came out that the manager of the newspaper delivery
agency in Higashisumiyoshi Ward had made a report to the police that a
newspaper subscription fee of 230,000 yen had been stolen. Afterwards, the
manager discovered that the thief was Kobayashi, now working in Kawai. On
November 17, 2004, the day of the kidnapping, a judge had issued an arrest
warrant for Kobayashi for the embezzlement reported by the manager. However,
the manager did not inform the police of this, because he was promised that the
suspect would repay him for the stolen money with monthly payments. Therefore,
the police were not able to arrest Kobayashi, and he was free to commit his
attack.
As
a result of this, Mainichi Shimbun announced on January 19, 2005, that
it would terminate its contracts with two delivery agents in Kawai and
Higashisumiyoshi Ward in Osaka on January 31.
Effect on Otaku
In
Japan there has been some negativity towards otaku and otaku culture. Tsutomu
Miyazaki became known as "The Otaku Murderer" in 1989. His bizarre
murders fueled a moral panic against otaku.
Japanese
journalist Akihiro Otani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a
member of the figurine collector sub-culture, even before his arrest. Although
Kobayashi was not an otaku, and did not even own any figurines, the
degree of social hostility against otaku seemed to increase for a while, as
suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible
suspects for sex crimes, and by calls from persons in local governments for
stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials which cater
to some otaku (e.g. erotic manga and erotic videogames). Nobuto Hosaka
criticised a lot of the hype.
Trial
and verdict
His
trial began on April 18, 2005. Kobayashi said:
I want to be sentenced to death as quickly as possible, and leave a legacy among the public as the next Tsutomu Miyazaki or Mamoru Takuma.
However,
both Miyazaki and Takuma killed many children and were regarded as insane
murderers.
Miyazaki
claimed that "I won't allow him to call himself 'the second Tsutomu
Miyazaki' when he hasn't even undergone a psychiatric examination."
Kobayashi's
psychiatrist diagnosed him as suffering from antisocial personality disorder
and pedophilia, but sane enough to be responsible for his actions. In fact, he
might have been gnawed by a sense of guilt.
Kaede's
identity had been withheld by the Japanese media when the media learned of his
sex crime, but the bereaved released her name and photograph in September 2006.
On
September 26, 2006, Kobayashi was sentenced to death by hanging by the Nara
district court. The defense made an appeal on the same day, but retracted it on
October 10, 2006.
His
new lawyer claimed in June 2007 that the withdrawal was invalid, which was
declined by the Nara district court on April 21, 2008. On May 22, 2008, the
Osaka high court upheld the decision. On July 7, 2008, the Supreme Court of
Japan upheld the decision.
Kobayashi
was executed by hanging at Osaka Detention Center on February 21, 2013.
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