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Koji Yamada murdered
Natsumi Hirata, 13, (LEFT) and Ryoto Hoshino, 12, (RIGHT) whose bodies were
found in the outskirts of Osaka in August 2015.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fv6i_WIvXc]
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Man
sentenced to death for 2015 murder of two junior high students in Osaka
Prefecture
KYODO DEC 19, 2018
KYODO DEC 19, 2018
OSAKA - A court sentenced a 48-year-old man to
death on Wednesday for killing two junior high school students in Osaka
Prefecture in 2015, rejecting the defense counsel’s claim that he did not
intend to commit the murders and cannot take full criminal responsibility due
to a mental disorder.
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Yamada Koji (山田浩二) murdered Natsumi Hirata, 13, and Ryoto Hoshino,
12, whose bodies were found in the outskirts of Osaka in August 2015.
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According to the ruling, Yamada suffocated Hirata
either by choking her with his hands or covering her nose and mouth with
adhesive tape on or around Aug. 13 of that year, and also suffocated Hoshino by
unknown means.
During the trial, the defense team said Yamada
should be charged with assault resulting in the death of Hirata, rather than
murder, claiming he had a mental disorder and was in a state of diminished
capacity at the time.
Yamada underwent a psychiatric evaluation following
his arrest that concluded he was not suffering from any mental disability. It
did, however, allow for the possibility that Yamada had attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder.
The defense team also said Yamada could not be held
responsible for Hoshino’s death as the boy may have died of an illness.
Yamada told the court he “didn’t intend to kill the
two.”
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Koji Yamada murdered
Natsumi Hirata, 13, (RIGHT) and Ryoto Hoshino, 12, (LEFT) whose bodies were
found in the outskirts of Osaka in August 2015.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://akabosi.militaryblog.jp/e687098.html]
|
Prosecutors argued Hoshino appeared healthy in
images captured by security cameras shortly before his death and said there is
no possibility that he died of an illness.
They also said they can infer that Yamada murdered
Hirata to silence her about the murder of Hoshino and that he choked the two
with the intent of killing them.
Hirata and Hoshino disappeared on the evening of
Aug. 12, 2015, after meeting outside in the area where they lived. Hirata’s
body was found the following day in a parking lot in Takatsuki, Osaka
Prefecture, while Hoshino’s skeletal remains were found on Aug. 21 in a
mountainous area of Kashiwara, which Yamada had visited. The accused was
arrested on the same day.
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