“Black Widow” pleads innocent
June 26, 2017
Tokyo- Representing a 70-year-old woman accused of being a "black widow" killer, a lawyer pleaded not guilty on Monday to the murder of three men and attempted murder of another with poison in western Japan between 2007 and 2013.
In the first hearing of a lay judge trial held at Kyoto District Court, the defendant, Chisako Kakehi, said, "I've left everything to my lawyers."
The lawyer proclaimed Kakehi's innocence, saying, "We'll contest all the charges."
The first hearing marked the start of Kakehi's 135-day trial for the murders and attempted robbery-murder in Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, allegedly aimed at benefiting from inheritances.
The ruling is set to be delivered on Nov. 7.
In the trial, prosecutors lack direct evidence linking the cases with Kakehi, as they have been unable to specify how she acquired the cyanide compound allegedly used for the killings.
They plan to set out circumstantial evidence to demonstrate that Kakehi was the perpetrator in the four cases.
Meanwhile, the defense counsel plans to question whether Kakehi's confessions during the investigations were obtained on a voluntary basis.
According to the indictment and other sources, Kakehi allegedly murdered the three men with fatal doses of cyanide in the period 2012-2013.
The three were her husband, Isao Kakehi, then 75, and her common-law husbands--Masanori Honda, then 71, and Minoru Hioki, then 75.
The defendant is also suspected of attempting to kill Toshiaki Suehiro, whom she was dating, in 2007. Suehiro died from malignant lymphoma of the stomach in 2009 at the age of 79. (Jiji Press)
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