Kojiro Asakura
Mass murderer
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- Gender
- male
- Country
- Japan
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Date of birth
- 1917
- Age at first offence
- 66
- Characteristics
- murder-suicide, torture, revenge
- Victim profile
- Akira Shirai, 45, his wife, the couple's 1-year-old son and two daughters
- Method of murder
- Beating with a hammer and an ax
- Date(s) of murder
- June 27, 1983
- Years active
- 1983
- Date of arrest
- —
- Status
-
Executed
Executed by hanging on December 27, 2001
Background
Kojiro Asakura was a 66-year-old former property assessor. He was convicted of killing five members of a family in Tokyo in 1983. The family had been living in a home Asakura purchased at an auction.
The offence
Asakura slaughtered a Tokyo woman and three children on the night of June 27, 1983, by brutally beating them with a hammer. He then lay in wait for the woman's husband and killed him with an ax. Asakura murdered the family because they refused to move out despite an imminent deadline for transfer of the property to a real estate agency.
Asakura was convicted of killing Akira Shirai, 45, his wife, the couple's 1-year-old son and two daughters in elementary school at the family's house in Tokyo's Nerima Ward. The real estate assessor also cut up three of the bodies in June 1983.
Investigation
Asakura had made a contract to resell the house and land where the family lived after he successfully bid on the property at an auction by the Tokyo District Court.
Defense lawyers claimed that Asakura was in a state of insanity because he was under strong pressure and asked for acquittal or leniency.
The courts ruled that Asakura had normal judgment ability and should be held responsible for the brutal crime.
Trial
Asakura's death sentence was finalized in 1996 following the Supreme Court's rejection of his appeal.
Sentencing
Asakura was sentenced to death. His death sentence was finalized in 1996 after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Appeals
The Supreme Court rejected Asakura's appeal, and his death sentence was finalized in 1996.
Outcome
Asakura was executed at the Tokyo Detention House on December 27, 2001, by hanging. His execution occurred on a Thursday morning and was described as Japan's first executions in 13 months and the first under the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Aftermath
Kojiro Asakura was executed by hanging on December 27, 2001 at the Tokyo Detention Center.
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