Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 26, 2006 17:48:12 GMT -5
Nara schoolgirl killer handed death penalty
The Nara District Court on Tuesday handed down the death penalty to Kaoru
Kobayashi, the convicted pedophile murderer of 7-year-old Nara schoolgirl
Kaede Ariyama.
Kobayashi was handed the death penalty after being convicted of abducting
the victim with the intention of sexually assaulting her, then drowning
her and dumping her body.
It is extremely rare for the death penalty to be applied in cases with
only one victim, or when robbery it not involved and the defendant has no
past record of murder, but the court sided with prosecutors' demand for
the death penalty, taking into consideration the brutality of the crime
and the feelings of the victim's family.
Presiding Judge Tetsuya Okuda started proceedings at the hearing on
Tuesday by reading out the reason for the court's ruling, a common
procedure when the death penalty is handed down.
The court blasted Kobayashi's motive of abducting the young girl to
fulfill his sexual urges, and pointed out the seriousness of the crime, in
which Kobayashi drowned the 7-year-old by holding her under water in his
bathtub, and then photographed the corpse and e-mailed the picture to the
girl's traumatized mother.
During the trial, Kaede's parents lashed out at Kobayashi, saying they
wanted the court to give him a penalty heavier than the death sentence.
Kobayashi, a former employee at a Mainichi Shimbun sales agent, was
convicted of abducting Kaede as she was on her way home from school in
Nara on the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2004, and driving her to his home in
Sango, Nara Prefecture. He drowned her in his bathtub, and, after
"damaging part of her body", dumped the corpse in a ditch in Heguri, Nara
Prefecture, according to the ruling.
Prosecutors argued that the crime was planned, and that Kobayashi had
decided to kill the girl before he took her into his bathroom. Lawyers
said that Kobayashi had killed the girl impulsively when she resisted him
in the bathroom, but the court sided with prosecutors and ruled that the
crime was calculated.
Kobayashi had repeatedly requested during the trial that he be given the
death penalty.
Because he failed to offer a clear apology, prosecutors argued that he
held no feelings of regret and that his rehabilitation in society was
impossible.
"He repeatedly stated that he wanted the death penalty, and did not offer
a clear apology to the parents," a prosecutor in the case said.
During the trial prosecutors blasted Kobayashi's actions.
"It was an extremely brutal and inhumane crime in which the defendant
directed sexual urges at a girl who didn't know how to resist him, and
took the life of a 7-year-old," a representative prosecutor said.
Prosecutors argued that the fact that there was only one victim was "not
necessarily a reason to avoid the death penalty."
Lawyers for Kobayashi claimed that holding the victim's face in the water
as a method of killing did not constitute violent behavior that warranted
the death penalty. They said that the reason Kobayashi had asked for the
death penalty was that he thought giving up his life was the only way to
atone for the crime.
(source: Mainichi Daily News)
The Nara District Court on Tuesday handed down the death penalty to Kaoru
Kobayashi, the convicted pedophile murderer of 7-year-old Nara schoolgirl
Kaede Ariyama.
Kobayashi was handed the death penalty after being convicted of abducting
the victim with the intention of sexually assaulting her, then drowning
her and dumping her body.
It is extremely rare for the death penalty to be applied in cases with
only one victim, or when robbery it not involved and the defendant has no
past record of murder, but the court sided with prosecutors' demand for
the death penalty, taking into consideration the brutality of the crime
and the feelings of the victim's family.
Presiding Judge Tetsuya Okuda started proceedings at the hearing on
Tuesday by reading out the reason for the court's ruling, a common
procedure when the death penalty is handed down.
The court blasted Kobayashi's motive of abducting the young girl to
fulfill his sexual urges, and pointed out the seriousness of the crime, in
which Kobayashi drowned the 7-year-old by holding her under water in his
bathtub, and then photographed the corpse and e-mailed the picture to the
girl's traumatized mother.
During the trial, Kaede's parents lashed out at Kobayashi, saying they
wanted the court to give him a penalty heavier than the death sentence.
Kobayashi, a former employee at a Mainichi Shimbun sales agent, was
convicted of abducting Kaede as she was on her way home from school in
Nara on the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2004, and driving her to his home in
Sango, Nara Prefecture. He drowned her in his bathtub, and, after
"damaging part of her body", dumped the corpse in a ditch in Heguri, Nara
Prefecture, according to the ruling.
Prosecutors argued that the crime was planned, and that Kobayashi had
decided to kill the girl before he took her into his bathroom. Lawyers
said that Kobayashi had killed the girl impulsively when she resisted him
in the bathroom, but the court sided with prosecutors and ruled that the
crime was calculated.
Kobayashi had repeatedly requested during the trial that he be given the
death penalty.
Because he failed to offer a clear apology, prosecutors argued that he
held no feelings of regret and that his rehabilitation in society was
impossible.
"He repeatedly stated that he wanted the death penalty, and did not offer
a clear apology to the parents," a prosecutor in the case said.
During the trial prosecutors blasted Kobayashi's actions.
"It was an extremely brutal and inhumane crime in which the defendant
directed sexual urges at a girl who didn't know how to resist him, and
took the life of a 7-year-old," a representative prosecutor said.
Prosecutors argued that the fact that there was only one victim was "not
necessarily a reason to avoid the death penalty."
Lawyers for Kobayashi claimed that holding the victim's face in the water
as a method of killing did not constitute violent behavior that warranted
the death penalty. They said that the reason Kobayashi had asked for the
death penalty was that he thought giving up his life was the only way to
atone for the crime.
(source: Mainichi Daily News)