Okikura Kazuo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death penalty upheld for man for killing wealthy woman, brother

11th November, 2010


The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision sentencing a former city official to death for killing a wealthy woman and her brother in a 2008 murder-robbery case in Akiruno, the western suburbs of Tokyo.

Presiding Judge Akira Kanaya turned down an appeal from Kazuo Okikura, 63. He said in the decision, ‘‘The crime was premeditated and was based on a selfish motive’’ of trying to pay back a huge debt that he incurred from losing in mah-jongg games.

According to the ruling by the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court in May 2009, Okikura and his accomplice conspired to kill Hirokazu Obuku, then 51, and his sister Yasuyo, then 54, a librarian, in the early hours of April 10, 2008, after breaking into their home and stealing 350,000 yen in cash from them the previous night.

They also abandoned the victims’ bodies on a mountain in Nagano Prefecture and withdrew about 5.26 million yen from a bank account with a cash card they stole from the siblings.

The defense counsel argued that the 66-year-old accomplice, who was sentenced to life, was the main culprit, and claimed that the lower court ruling, which identified Okikura as having played a leading role in the crime, was incorrect.

In the high court ruling, however, the presiding judge said Okikura led the crime by talking his accomplice into it.


Man sentenced to death, accomplice to life for double murder


Kyodo News

A man was sentenced to death and his accomplice to life in prison Tuesday for killing a wealthy woman and her brother in a 2008 robbery-murder in the western Tokyo suburb of Akiruno.

Presiding Judge Kazunobu Yamazaki at the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court handed the death penalty to Kazuo Okikura, 61, a former Akiruno city employee, and life imprisonment to Yoriaki Imaruoka, 65, operator of a civil engineering business, as demanded by prosecutors.

The three-judge panel found the two guilty of conspiring to kill Hirokazu Obuku, 51, and his sister, Yasuyo, 54, a librarian, in the early hours of April 10 last year after breaking into their home and robbing them of ¥350,000 in cash at knifepoint the previous night.

Okikura and Imaruoka dumped the corpses on a mountain in Nagano Prefecture and withdrew some ¥5.26 million from a bank account with a cash card they took from the victims, the court said.

During the trial, Okikura and Imaruoka fingered each other as the main culprit.

In their closing statement in March, the prosecutors argued that Okikura was the mastermind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Nagano bodies may be siblings


The Japan Times: Thursday, May 8, 2008


Kyodo News

Two bodies believed to be those of a missing woman and her brother were found Wednesday in a mountainous area of Iizuna, Nagano Prefecture, based on statements made by a man under arrest on suspicion of withdrawing money from their bank account, police said.

Yasuyo Obuku, 54, and her brother, Hirokazu, 51, were discovered missing April 12, when a relative visited their home in Akiruno, Tokyo.

On April 21, police arrested Yoriaki Imaruoka, 64, and Kazuo Okikura, 60, on suspicion of withdrawing a total of more than ¥5 million on 15 occasions from the account of the missing siblings, they said. Imaruoka said he abandoned the bodies and helped lead investigators to the remains, but Okikura has not talked, the police said.

(C) All rights reserved