Death Sought for Japanese Man in Murder of Vietnamese Girl

June 18, 2018

Chiba- Public prosecutors demanded the death penalty on Monday for a Japanese man accused of murdering a Vietnamese elementary school girl in the city of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, in March last year and abandoning her body.

In a hearing at the lay judge trial over the case at Chiba District Court, the prosecutors said that it was "an extraordinary, cruel crime," adding that the suspect, Yasumasa Shibuya, 47, has "no conscience at all."

Meanwhile, Shibuya, who headed the parents' association at the school the victim attended, again pleaded not guilty. The case was closed the same day, with a ruling set to be handed down on July 6.

"We can't help but believe that Shibuya is the perpetrator," the prosecutors claimed, pointing out that combined DNA of Shibuya and the nine-year-old girl, Le Thi Nhat Linh, a third-grader, was found on the victim's abdomen and that traces of the girl's blood were detected from many parts of the man's car.

Touching on the fact that Shibuya had participated in a patrol of the school route before the incident, the prosecutors said, "He was in a position to protect children but ended up doing the opposite."

"Betrayed by the person she trusted, the victim experienced excruciating pain, both physically and psychologically," they said.

The defense for Shibuya pointed to the possibility of Linh, before the incident, having suffered an injury while playing in his car and leaving blood in the car from her blood-stained hand.

"There is no evidence other than the DNA suggesting that Shibuya is the perpetrator," the defense said.

In his concluding remarks, Shibuya said: "I'm truly innocent. I'm angry that the prosecutors made false accusations against me and fabricated evidence."

According to the indictment, Shibuya took Linh, a resident of Matsudo, away by car on March 24, 2017, in order to sexually abuse her, and then strangled the girl and abandoned her body near a ditch in Abiko, another city in Chiba Prefecture. Jiji Press