Kayoko Nakai

Case record: Kayoko Nakai

Background

Kayoko Nakai was 66 and ran a rival telephone dating club in Kobe at the time of the incident. The Kobe District Court described her as an operator of a rival telephone dating club and said she issued the order to disrupt the business of Rin Rin House.

Nakai was also described as the operator of a rival telephone dating club and as a former operator of a telephone dating club.

Akihiro Sakamoto, 47, was described as a leader of a Hiroshima-based drug trafficking group and as someone who was seen as a main culprit in the arson-murder case. The court ruled that Sakamoto conspired with Nakai and led the individuals who carried out the arson-murder.

Kazuyuki Sano was 44 when arrested. Shinya Kameno was 30 when arrested. Kenichi Hori was 37 and was on a wanted list and still on the lam.

The offence

The Kobe District Court sentenced Nakai to life in prison for ordering accomplices to set fire to two Rin Rin House telephone dating club premises in Kobe in 2000, killing four people.

The incident involved two outlets of the rival telephone dating club chain, "Rin Rin House," in Kobe's Chuo-ku, on the morning of March 2, 2000. Under Nakai's orders, accomplices threw Molotov cocktails into the two Rin Rin House telephone clubs.

In the incident, four customers were killed and four others were injured. Another account described the attack left four customers dead from carbon monoxide poisoning and four employees with light to serious injuries. The attack was described as fire bombs being thrown into two stores in Kobe's Motomachi district, including the Rin Rin House.

Nakai was convicted of murder and arson to inhabited structures.

Investigation

Police investigating the March 2000 arson at a building housing a telephone dating club in Kobe's Chuo Ward arrested Kayoko Nakai on suspicion of committing murder and arson. The arrest was reported as occurring in 2000, and Nakai was identified as 65 at that time.

Investigators transferred the custody of three other suspects, including a 45-year-old drug trafficker, Akihiro Sakamoto, from Hiroshima and other detention centers. The police plan was to arrest the three on Friday, investigative sources said.

Investigators believed Nakai felt threatened by the advance into Kobe of the major telephone dating club and offered a huge reward to Sakamoto to carry out the attack.

The police described the telephone club set on fire, "Rin Rin House," as fast growing with a total of four outlets and intensifying competition against Nakai's dating clubs.

The investigators arrested a heavy-machine operator, Kazuyuki Sano, 44, and an unemployed man, Shinya Kameno, 30, on suspicion of arson. The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Sano and Kameno on arson charges, then later added murder and attempted murder to the list of charges after deciding that the accused were "consciously negligent." Another suspect, Kenichi Hori, 37, was described as a former gangster and as one who was believed to have acted as a driver in the case, and he was described as having been on a wanted list and still on the lam.

Arrest

In 2000, police arrested Kayoko Nakai, who at that time managed competing date clubs, on suspicion of committing murder and arson.

The arrest was described as occurring on Thursday in 2000.

Trial

The Kobe District Court convicted Nakai of murder and arson to inhabited structures.

Prosecutors sought the death sentence against Nakai at the Kobe District Court. During court sessions, Nakai consistently denied the charges.

Nakai denied that there was evidence that she conspired with those who committed the crime and denied that she asked them to do anything against the two Rin Rin House telephone dating clubs.

The court ruled that Nakai conspired with Akihiro Sakamoto, 47, who led individuals who carried out the arson-murder in an effort to obstruct the business of the Rin Rin House group, which had expanded into the Kobe area.

The Kobe District Court described mitigation: presiding Judge Makoto Okada mitigated the penalty to a life sentence, saying Nakai aimed at disrupting the business, not harming people, and she was unaware of the method taken to disturb the rival.

During sentencing, the presiding judge responded, "We cannot say that the degree of her murderous intent was high."

Sentencing

On November 27, 2007, the Kobe District Court sentenced Kayoko Nakai to life in prison.

Prosecutors had demanded a death sentence, but presiding Judge Makoto Okada mitigated the penalty to life imprisonment.

Appeals

Sakamoto was separately being tried over the case.

Kazuyuki Sano and Shinya Kameno had been appealing district and high court rulings that sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Outcome

Kayoko Nakai was sentenced to life in prison for ordering accomplices to set fire to two Rin Rin House telephone dating club premises in Kobe in 2000, killing four people.

Aftermath

The case continued with separate proceedings involving Akihiro Sakamoto, and with appeals by other defendants who had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Timeline

• March 2, 2000 — Akihiro Sakamoto and accomplices threw Molotov cocktails into two outlets of the Rin Rin House telephone clubs in Kobe's Chuo-ku; four customers were killed and four others were injured.
• 2000 — Police arrested Kayoko Nakai on suspicion of committing murder and arson.
• February 9, 2006 — Police investigating the March 2000 arson arrested Kayoko Nakai and transferred custody of three other suspects, including Akihiro Sakamoto.
• August 3, 2007 — Prosecutors sought the death sentence for Nakai at the Kobe District Court; Nakai denied the charges.
• November 28, 2007 — The Kobe District Court convicted Nakai and sentenced her to life in prison.
• November 27, 2007 — Kayoko Nakai was sentenced to life in prison by the Kobe District Court.