Top court rejects death penalty appeals by 4 family members over quadruple murder

By Yoon Ye-seul

Japan's Supreme Court has rejected death penalty appeals filed by two defendants over the murders in 2004 of four in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, the Mainichi Daily News reported.

The defendants are Jitsu Kitamura, 67 and his 30-year-old son Takashi.

“They cannot escape death although regretting their wrongdoings,” the court said.

This follows previous rejections by the top court for appeals against the death sentences for Kitamura’s 52-year-old wife, Mami, and another son Takahiro, 27, in the same murder case on Oct. 3.

According to reports, Kitamura and his wife owed 68 million yen (about 1 billion won) to a private female moneylender in September, 2004.

Rather than repay the debt, the couple arranged to meet the moneylender on Sept. 18 to extort more money from the victim, telling her to bring cash. They conspired with their two sons for the murder.

On the day of the appointment, the family strangled her to death when she lost consciousness after eating food in which they put sleeping pills. They took the money she had with her.

Two days earlier, the two sons invaded the victim’s home to steal more before killing her. They took valuables worth 4 million yen that day, after killing the victim’s second eldest son aged 15. They dumped the body into a nearby river.

They continued their crime spree, shooting dead the moneylender’s eldest son, 18, and his friend, 17, who were looking for the woman, after taking them to a remote area. Their bodies were attached to concrete and pushed into the river.

The crimes were disclosed when the dead bodies floated to the surface of the river four days after the killing spree and police arrested the family.