Chinese woman gets life sentence over deaths of 3 men
(Hangman cheated)
29th January, 2010
OSAKA
A Chinese woman accused of murdering her Japanese husband and two other men in Japan in a scheme to seize the husband’s assets was sentenced to life in prison Thursday. The Osaka District Court gave the sentence to Yin Lina, 54, finding her guilty of murdering one man, acquitting her of killing the other man, and applying the lighter charge of assault resulting in death to the case of her husband.
The woman had pleaded not guilty to the charges of killing her husband Zenichiro Kato, 77, in 2001 and the two other men—Kiyoshi Takagi, 71, and Akira Kondo, 69—from 2001 to 2002. The three-judge panel also found Yin guilty of swindling the husband’s assets.
Court findings showed that Yin planned to unfairly inherit her husband’s assets and inflicted injuries to him at their home in Osaka’s Chuo Ward around late October 2001. Those injuries caused Kato to die later but his body has not been found.
She also killed Kondo in Ishikawa Prefecture around Feb 15, 2002, in a scheme to disguise the dead man as her missing husband, the findings showed. Kondo had long suffered from diabetes.
Presiding Judge Hidenori Nagai said the defendant apparently planned to kill Takagi but the prosecutors have failed to establish their argument that Yin killed him.
Over the death of the husband, the judge said there is no evidence to back up the prosecution’s argument that the defendant had the will to kill him.
The murder case came to light in February 2002 when the body of what was reported as that of Yin’s husband Kato was found to be that of a separate man. Later, Kato was found to have gone missing.
Police launched an investigation suspecting Yin killed her husband and also two other men to use their bodies as substitutes for Kato.
In January 2003, Yin was put on an international wanted list. She was first arrested in October 2007 in Tokyo on suspicion of killing Kondo. In January 2008, a fresh arrest warrant was served on Yin on suspicion of killing her husband.
Prosecutors slapped murder and fraud charges against Yin and sought the death penalty.
Yin pleaded not guilty to murder charges and accused the prosecution of framing her with a false criminal story.
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大阪「替え玉」殺人、二審も無期懲役 中国籍の女性被告
2011/April/20
資産相続のために夫（当時７７）を殺害し、夫と同様に糖尿病を患う知人２人を「替え玉」にしようとして殺害したなどとして、殺人などの罪に問われた中国籍の尹麗娜（イン・リナ）被告（５５）の控訴審判決が２０日、大阪高裁であった。古川博裁判長は、１人について無罪と判断して無期懲役（求刑死刑）を言い渡した一審・大阪地裁判決を支持し、被告・検察側の控訴を棄却した。
尹被告は（１）２００１年１０～１１月ごろ、大阪市中央区の自宅アパートで夫の加藤善一郎さんを殺害（２）同１２月～０２年１月ごろ、替え玉にしようとして失敗した高木清さん（当時７１）を大阪府内またはその周辺で殺害（３）同２月、知人の近藤晃さん（同６９）を石川県の知人宅の納屋に放置し、糖尿病治療を受けさせずに殺害――などとして起訴された。
控訴審判決は、一審判決が殺人罪の成立を認めた近藤さんの事件について「被告が近藤さんを納屋に閉じこめたとする知人の証言は信用でき、一審判決に誤りはない」と判断。遺体が見つかっていない加藤さんの事件については「アパートから血痕などが見つかっており、被告による暴行があったと推定できるが、殺意までは認められない」と指摘し、一審と同様に傷害致死罪にとどまるとした。
遺体の一部が同府内の港などで見つかった高木さんの事件に関しては「死因は不明であり、被告を犯人と認定するのは困難だ」として改めて無罪と判断した。
被告側は控訴審で、加藤さんは突然死の可能性がある▽高木さんの死亡には無関係▽近藤さんは病死――などとして全面無罪を主張していた。（岡本玄）