TOKYO –
The first trial of two males accused of killing restaurant proprietor Ryutaro Takarajima and his spouse, Sachiko, started on the Tokyo District Court on June 22, with the 30-year-old defendant described as a directing determine admitting the costs, whereas the opposite defendant acknowledged involvement however argued that he was solely an adjunct.
Hikaru Sasaki, 30, and Ryoken Hirayama, 27, are accused of murdering Takarajima, then 55, and his spouse Sachiko, then 56, by strangling them and different means at a vacant home in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward in April 2024, earlier than abandoning their our bodies in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture.
Five others, together with the couple’s eldest daughter and a person who was in a common-law relationship together with her, have additionally been indicted on homicide fees in reference to the case.
At the opening listening to, Sasaki admitted the costs in opposition to him. Hirayama additionally acknowledged involvement within the incident however stated, “I believe I was an accessory.”
In their opening assertion, prosecutors stated Sasaki was instructed by the common-law husband of the couple’s eldest daughter to rearrange those that would perform the killings, and that Hirayama, after being consulted by Sasaki, organized the perpetrators.
Defense legal professionals for each males argued that their purchasers had merely adopted directions from the common-law husband.
Source: TBS