In a homicide case, a confession that features a motive by the perpetrator is without doubt one of the most necessary components in getting a conviction for the prosecution. However, equally essential is the existence of a corpse.
In the homicide of Tatsunari Ito within the Nishi Kawaguchi red-light district of Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture in 2016, prosecutors didn’t have a physique, as a result of the perpetrators had dismembered and burned it.
The destruction of the corpse additionally delayed the invention of the case by legislation enforcement by a number of years. The outcome was six of the seven perpetrators not being prosecuted for against the law because the statute of limitations on the destruction and abandonment of a corpse had expired.
The lone defendant to go to courtroom was Kazuharu Shimada, a one-time member of the Yamaguchi-gumi legal syndicate, who was convicted of homicide in 2022.
In getting that conviction, the prosecution could not have been in a position to depend on the existence of a corpse however they did have smartphone video of the incident as shot by the perpetrators.
The assault of Ito was extended and ugly. In the third installment (elements one and two are right here and right here, The Tokyo Reporter editorial workforce presents in stunning element what Shimada advised the courtroom.
Someone else did it
The incident, which came about in Hawaiian Bar Lapule, was recorded on movies left on the smartphones of those that had been within the institution over the night time of March 17, 2016 and the next morning.
The named perpetrators are Shimada and Junya Motohashi, the proprietor of Lapule. The 5 others — together with Motohashi’s girlfriend, his driver and three henchmen — weren’t recognized. (As beforehand reported, Motohashi later killed himself after his arrest in 2021.)
At the trial, Shimada admitted to the assault of Ito and the mutilation and abandonment of his physique, two costs which he was not accused of. However, he denied committing homicide, which he was indicted for. “I did not do it,” he stated, as weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun (Dec. 2022) studies.
Ito, aged 24 on the time, at one level had been relationship the daughter of Shimada. As beforehand reported, the obvious motive for the crime was Ito’s use of a smartphone supplied to him by Shimada after he had reduce off a relationship with the daughter and allegations that he had been swindling prospects at Lapule.
Shimada’s protection lawyer argued, “The statements of those involved at the investigation stage and the trial stage differ greatly,” implying that individuals aside from Shimada had colluded to cowl up the reality, and that it was another person who killed Ito.
The prosecution claimed in any other case.
Set his head on hearth
The assault of Ito started after Motohashi known as Shimada to the bar that night time. They first dragged him into the toilet and assaulted him. They then pulled him to the primary ground of the bar.
As Ito pleaded with them to cease, Shimada lit his penis with a lighter, then poured alcohol over his head, which Motohashi set on hearth, inflicting his head to burst into flames.
According to the prosecutor’s clarification of proof, one video recorded Ito’s screaming voice, “It’s hot, it’s hot!” As effectively, there have been cheers of “Ohhh!” and chants of “Fire, fire!” from these within the bar.
Next, Motohashi stomped on Ito’s writhing head, and Shimada, holding a razor, shaved his hair and eyebrows. He then sprayed the identical liquid round his genital space and set him on hearth once more.
As the assault continued, Ito begged for forgiveness. Motohashi then demanded that he masturbate. With others within the bar current, Ito started masturbating, and Shimada started a countdown. Ito, who continued to plead for them to cease, even caught considered one of his fingers in a plastic bottle and tried to interrupt it.
“An unreasonable side”
During the trial, Shimada defined the relationships of the individuals who had gathered on the bar that night. This included Motohashi.
“Motohashi had a lot of good points from my perspective, but he also had an unreasonable side that made him do outrageous things,” he stated. “He was violent towards young girls that he loved. He used drugs a lot. When I arrived at the bar, there were [the three henchmen] there, and they were following what Motohashi said, so I realized that they were Motohashi’s ‘young men.’ As far as I can tell, either then or afterwards, I never saw the three refusing to do what Motohashi said. One of them used kakuseizai (methamphetamine) with Motohashi. He also sold [that drug] for profit.”
Shimada stated he went to the bar as a result of “as far as I remember, Motohashi called me.”
The defendant advised the courtroom: “It was late at night and he said, ‘I have something important to tell you, so please come.’ It took about an hour to get to the bar from my house. Motohashi, his associates, and the victim were there at the time, and they were all yelling and making noise.”
According to Shimada, they had been speaking about Ito stealing cash from prospects. “That’s when he called me,” the defendant stated, “and when I asked what they were talking about, that’s when they first mentioned [my] daughter’s smartphone.”
“Standing there naked”
At the time, Shimada was not affiliated with a gang, and he had work scheduled to start out early on March 18. At one level throughout the assault, he left Lapule, contacted somebody from his firm, gave them directions on the work to be executed within the morning, and returned to the bar.
“[Ito] was already standing there naked,” Shimada testified. “Motohashi was kicking [him]. His girlfriend was complaining about all sorts of things. She was saying things like, ‘You’re using women as toys,’ ‘You’re tricking women and using violence on them for carnal purposes,’ ‘You’re the enemy of women,’ and she seemed excited…No one stopped her. Hearing her excited words, I thought about my own daughter and got excited, and I joined in.”
At one level, Shimada stated Ito was made to sit down on the bathroom seat whereas tied up with a rope. They additionally fed him sleeping drugs. “I can’t say who it was, but someone brought a rope from somewhere and tied up [Ito]. It wasn’t me, but I can’t say [who it was] here.” Shimada stated.
His lawyer requested, “Was it Motohashi or one of the younger men who was ordered by Motohashi?” Shimada stated, “Probably someone under Motohashi, who gives orders but doesn’t do anything.”
After tying up the sufferer, everybody within the bar, together with Motohashi, went out to eat. Shimada stated, “I didn’t feel like going out to eat with everyone in this situation.” So, he stayed within the bar alone.
Motohashi returned some time later and ordered his underlings to carry Ito again to the ground. “You’re going to a gay bar now, you’re going to get your ass handed to you,” Motohashi declared.
At this level, Shimada felt that Motohashi’s conduct had modified on account of his use of methamphetamine.
“He had calmed down at the time,” Shimada stated. “But then I realized that he had been using drugs. So I went to [Ito] and told him to be quiet and not make a fuss, and told the younger guys to keep quiet. I called Motohashi into a booth and started talking to him.”
They concluded that in the event that they let Ito go he would run to the police.
“What are you going to do?”
Motohashi then approached Ito and began to push him. Ito then stated loudly, “Please stop, I won’t run away.” Thinking Motohashi would get excited once more, Shimada put duct tape over the sufferer’s mouth. “I told you to be quiet,” he stated.
Motohashi resumed the violence. “I thought [the assault] had started again,” Shimada stated, “so I turned my back on the victim and played with my cell phone.”
As for the precise homicide, Shimada stated, “I saw [one of the henchmen] doing something on the orders of Motohashi, straddling [Ito]. Behind him, Motohashi was standing on the victim. He was doing something unseemly. I can’t remember at what stage it was, but Motohashi was also strangling the victim.”
He added, “I didn’t try to stop Motohashi because it would make him even more excited.”
Shimada stated that in the long run, Motohashi and his subordinates killed the sufferer, and that he was not concerned.
Afterward, Shimada talked to Motohashi in the identical sales space. With his thoughts clean and practically unable to talk, he managed to say, “This is no joke, what are you going to do?”
Then, throughout the dialog, Motohashi requested, “Can you mince [Ito] at the negitoro factory owned by your relative?”
“I can’t do that,” Shimada responded. But Motohashi continued. “Can’t you leave [Ito] in the company freezer?” he requested.
“I’ll do something about it within a day or two,” Shimada lastly stated.
The gamers > The sufferer > The smartphones > The disposal