Morita Katsumi
Man sentenced to death for Mabuchi Motor murders,
2 other cases
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
CHIBA — A 56-year-old man was sentenced to death Tuesday at the Chiba District Court for killing four people, including the wife and daughter of the chairman of Mabuchi Motor Co, in 2002. Katsumi Morita conspired with Tetsuo Odajima, 63, who is on trial separately, to break into the home of Takaichi Mabuchi, then president of the major manufacturer of small electric motors, in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in August 2002.
The pair stole several hundred thousand yen in cash plus valuables worth 9.7 million yen and strangled Etsuko Mabuchi, 66, and her daughter Yuka, 40, and set the home on fire, it said. Morita and Odajima also killed a dentist, 71, in Tokyo's Meguro Ward in September 2002 and a 65-year-old woman in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, in November 2002, and stole valuables and about 1.4 million yen in total, according to the indictment. (Kyodo News)
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