A 79-year-old man admitted in court to stabbing a friend to death over an unpaid loan but denied intending to kill the friend's wife, in a trial over a 2024 double murder and a fire that destroyed eight homes in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.
The first hearing in the lay-judge trial of Kaoru Sakamaki, of no fixed address and unemployed, opened at the Chiba District Court on Tuesday before presiding judge Satoshi Miyamoto. The verdict is scheduled for December 3.
Sakamaki admitted killing Toshiaki Watarai, then 59, telling the court, "I killed him because he wouldn't return the money." He denied intent to kill Watarai's wife, Reiko, also 59, and contested part of the arson charge.
The charges
According to the indictment, Sakamaki stabbed the couple in the chest and back with a butcher knife with a blade of about 20 centimeters at their home in Takayanagi, Kashiwa, around 6 p.m. on December 18, 2024.
About 20 minutes later, prosecutors say, he poured gasoline in the entryways of three homes, including his own a few hundred meters away, and set fires that burned down eight buildings in total.
Loan dispute
In the prosecution's opening statement, Sakamaki had lent money to Toshiaki, an acquaintance since his youth, and the unpaid debt had led to a dispute. He wrote "I'll take you to the other world" on a calendar and bought 60 liters of gasoline three days before the attack, according to the statement.
Prosecutors argued the crime was planned and said Reiko had 18 wounds on her chest, face and elsewhere, which they cited as proof of intent to kill.
The defense countered that the knife struck Reiko, who was nearby, as Sakamaki killed Toshiaki, and that he had no intent to kill her. Sakamaki admitted setting fire to three homes but said he did not intend the blaze to spread to the other five.
Disrupted hearing
Sakamaki entered the courtroom in a wheelchair. He struggled and was restrained by five prison officers, shouting "I'm waiting to be executed" and "I have nothing more to say. Let me go home." The session opened about an hour behind schedule.
After the hearing began, he shouted and cut off prosecutors when they referred to Reiko's killing in the indictment and opening statement.