Death sentence fixed over murder of two Junior High kids

May 22, 2019

Osaka--A death sentence given to a man for murdering two junior high school first-graders in western Japan has been fixed after he dropped an appeal, it was learned Tuesday.

According to Osaka High Court, the appeal against the Osaka District Court ruling in December last year was withdrawn Saturday.

In a lay judge trial, the district court sentenced Koji Yamada, 49, to death, ruling that he strangled Ryoto Hoshino, 12, and Natsumi Hirata, 13, who were students of a junior high school in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture.

"The criminal responsibility is extremely grave. The choice of the ultimate penalty is unavoidable," the court said.

The defense team claimed that Hoshino died due to health problems. Regarding the death of Hirata, the team said that the girl stopped moving after Yamada's hands, which he had put on her mouth, moved to her neck when the girl shouted.

According to the ruling, Yamada strangled Hirata in or near Osaka on Aug. 13, 2015. Hoshino was also strangled the same day.

On Tuesday, an attorney of Hoshino's family said that he "won't come back even though the appeal has been dropped. His family is living in unimaginable grief." Jiji Press