Xie Yidi
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Chinese man to hang for double murder
Friday 10th October,
The Tokyo High Court upheld on Thursday a lower court ruling that sentenced a Chinese man to death for killing and robbing a noodle company owner and his wife in 2002. The crime by Xie Yidi, 31, ‘‘was cruel and inhuman,’’ Presiding Judge Masaru Suda said, rejecting the defendant’s appeal. ‘‘Although he shows remorse, the death sentence is unavoidable.’’
While his defense team had argued he did not intend to kill the victims, Suda determined the defendant had a strong will to kill as he relentlessly and repeatedly stabbed them with a knife. According to the ruling, Xie broke into the home of Isamu Hayakawa, 64, in Tokyo in August 2002, and fatally stabbed him and his wife Yoko, 57, while robbing them of jewelry and around 47,000 yen in cash. Xie used to live in an apartment Hayakawa owned.
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Intruder who killed couple to hang
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006
Kyodo News
The Tokyo District Court sentenced a 29-year-old man to death Monday for killing and robbing his landlord and the landlord's wife in Tokyo in 2002.
Xie Yidi, a Chinese national, told the court he stabbed the couple -- Isamu Hayakawa, 64, and Yoko Hayakawa, 57 -- accidentally and denied intending to kill them.
Presiding Judge Hiroshi Narikawa said Xie's crimes, in which he repeatedly stabbed his victims, were extremely heinous.
"It is natural that the family (of the dead) seek the death penalty, as Xie took the lives of the Hayakawas, who had done nothing wrong, only to satisfy a desire for cash," he said.
Prosecutors had demanded the death sentence.
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