Death sentence for minor defendant

A district court in Japan has handed down Japan's first death sentence for a minor in a lay judge court, to a youth who was 18 years old when he murdered 2 women and injured a man.

The defendant was indicted for breaking into a house in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, last February, and
stabbing to death his former girlfriend's sister and friend.

The defendant had admitted to the charges, so the lay judge court was tasked with deciding on punishment.

Prosecutors demanded the death sentence.

In Thursday's ruling, Presiding Judge Nobuyuki Suzuki of the Sendai District Court said the defendant broke into the house with a strong intent to kill anyone who would stop him from taking his ex-girlfriend. The judge called the crime cruel and extremely brutal.

The judge said the defendant said words of repentance but only superficially, and did not recognize the seriousness of his crime. The judge added that it is highly unlikely that the defendant can be rehabilitated.

The judge said the court found that the defendant's age at the time of the crime is no reason for him to escape capital punishment.