Yasutoshi Kamata

Case overview

Yasutoshi Kamata was an unemployed man who was sentenced to death for murdering four women and an elementary school girl between 1985 and 1994. The Osaka High Court upheld a March 1999 Osaka District Court ruling. Kamata pleaded not guilty, saying police forced him to confess to the killings. His defense counsel said he was likely to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Timeline

• May 1985 — Fusae Azuma, 46, was murdered by strangling in Osaka's Nishinari Ward.
• June 1985 — Midori Chinen, 19, disappeared while on her way to work at a home for the mentally handicapped in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture.
• January 1987 — Kumiko Tsujikado, 9, was abducted on a road in Osaka and strangled at Kamata's home in the city.
• July 1993 — Kazue Suda, 45, was strangled in Nishinari Ward, Osaka.
• March 1994 — Kimiko Nakano, 38, was strangled in Chuo Ward, Osaka.
• March 1996 — Kamata pleaded not guilty during the first hearing and later denied any knowledge of the crimes.
• March 24, 1999 — An Osaka District Court sentenced Kamata to death.
• March 27, 2002 — The Osaka High Court upheld the March 1999 death sentence.

The offence

The Osaka High Court found Kamata guilty of “cruel and inhuman crimes” that deserved capital punishment. The murders involved five victims: Kumiko Tsujikado, Fusae Azuma, Midori Chinen, Kazue Suda, and Kimiko Nakano.

The court found that Kamata killed the four elder victims for financial reasons.

Kamata abducted 9-year-old Kumiko Tsujikado on a road in Osaka and strangled her at his home in the city in January 1987. The court found that Kamata also demanded a ransom of 30 million yen from Tsujikado's father and the girl's elementary school. The Osaka High Court found Kamata also guilty of that ransom-demand charge.

The court found Kamata strangled Fusae Azuma, 46, in May 1985. It found that Midori Chinen, 19, was strangled in June of the same year. It found that Kamata strangled Kazue Suda, 45, in July 1993, and strangled Kimiko Nakano, 38, in March 1994.

The district court had previously found Kamata not guilty on the ransom-demand charge, citing the possibility that someone else took advantage of the kidnapping case to demand the money.

To keep the bodies from discovery, Kamata mutilated the bodies of Kazue Suda and Kimiko Nakano and dumped them in the mountains in northern Osaka Prefecture.

Investigation and evidence

Kamata allegedly confessed to all the five murders during investigation but later denied any knowledge of the crimes and pleaded not guilty during the first hearing in March 1996.

The court admitted the testimony of a voice identification expert who said the voice of the person who made the ransom demand by telephone to Tsujikado's school was different from that of the suspect.

Background

Kamata was born in 1940. At the time of the first murders, he lived in Osaka's Nishinari Ward. The court found that his first murder took place in May 1985 when he allegedly strangled a housewife, Fusae Azuma, 46, in Osaka's Nishinari Ward.

According to prosecutors, Kamata murdered Fusae Azuma after quarreling with her.

In June 1985, prosecutors alleged Midori Chinen disappeared two months earlier while on her way to work at a home for the mentally handicapped in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, and that Kamata strangled her in the same ward.

In January 1987, prosecutors alleged Kamata lured Kumiko Tsujikado to his apartment, murdered her after luring her, then pretended the girl was still alive and telephoned her school to demand a 30 million yen ransom.

Prosecutors claimed Kamata strangled Kazue Suda because he was “pissed off by their requests for a loan.” Prosecutors also claimed Kamata murdered Kimiko Nakano because he was “pissed off” by requests for a loan.

The court found that after the kidnapping and ransom demand, the murders stopped for a while.

Kamata was reportedly caught thieving and imprisoned on two separate occasions. The account states that in July 1993, about four months after finishing the second sentence, he allegedly strangled Kazue Suda.

Trial

Kamata was tried in connection with the murders of four women and an elementary school girl.

The prosecution took the rare step of treating three of the murders separately from the remaining two, and demanded the death penalty for both sets of murders.

The prosecution told Presiding Judge Nobuyuki Yokota that Kamata has “a strong antisocial tendency and that there is no room for correction,” adding the families of the victims sought the most extreme penalty. The prosecution also said the string of murders Kamata was accused of merits the unusual demand because his case was “a brutal and atrocious case rarely seen in the annals of crime in our country.”

Presiding Judge Hiroshi Fukushima handed down the Osaka High Court sentence after upholding the March 1999 Osaka District Court ruling. The High Court found Kamata guilty and upheld the death sentence.

Outcome

The Osaka High Court upheld a March 1999 Osaka District Court ruling sentencing Kamata to death. Presiding Judge Hiroshi Fukushima said the crimes deserved capital punishment.

Other details

Kamata was linked to the victims as follows:

• Kumiko Tsujikado — 9-year-old elementary school student (third-year primary school student of Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka).
• Fusae Azuma — 46-year-old housewife; strangling occurred in Osaka's Nishinari Ward.
• Midori Chinen — 19-year-old; missing before being strangled in June 1985; disappearance occurred while on her way to work at a home for the mentally handicapped in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture.
• Kazue Suda — 45-year-old bar employee of Nishinari Ward, Osaka.
• Kimiko Nakano — 38-year-old waitress of Chuo Ward, Osaka.