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Cody
3rd June 2003, 04:06
Man acquitted of arson-murder in bizarre case


YOKOHAMA -- A man, who was arrested and indicted for setting fire to his girlfriend's home and killing her even though prosecutors earlier decided not to charge him over the case, was acquitted Monday.

The Yokohama District Court found Kei Sasaki, 30, a former company employee, not guilty of setting fire to the apartment of Miho Iijima, 25, in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, and killing her in late 1993.

"Even though there is a possibility that the defendant committed the crime, there are reasonable doubts about his guilt in the case," said Presiding Judge Hiroshi Yamura as he handed down the ruling.

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the ruling to the Tokyo High Court. Monday's ruling came after the case went through an unprecedented process.

The Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office, which once decided not to indict Sasaki over the case in June 1998, arrested and indicted him in February 2001 after the court determined in a civil suit that he committed the murder and arson.

Since he was arrested, Sasaki has denied he committed the crime. "After we talked about breaking up, Iijima asked me to die with her. She then poured kerosene on the floor of her apartment, slashed her own neck and set fire to her home," he was quoted as telling investigators.

The focal point at issue throughout the trial was whether evidence submitted by prosecutors was reliable.

The presiding judge said statements made by Sasaki could not be trusted. "Statements made by the defendant are inconsistent and unreasonable, and cannot be fully trusted. Iijima had no motives to commit suicide. There is a possibility that the defendant stabbed Iijima and set fire to her apartment."

At the same time, the judge dismissed an expert opinion submitted by prosecutors, which determined that Iijima, who was unable to move because of shock caused from massive bleeding, could not have set fire to her apartment on her own.

"The opinion is inconsistent with that of a doctor who conducted an autopsy on the victim's body and the results of an on-the-spot investigation," he said.

Presiding Judge Yamura concluded that there are reasonable doubts over whether Sasaki is guilty of the murder and arson.

"It is impossible to determine whether the defendant acted alone in stabbing her, pouring the kerosene and lighting the fire, or if he forced Iijima to do that, or if the two cooperated in the process."

Sasaki slashed Iijima in the neck at her apartment in Fujisawa on Dec. 14, 1993, poured kerosene on the floor of her room and torched it, the indictment said. The victim died from neck injuries and inhaling carbon monoxide, prosecutors claimed.

In July 2000, the Yokohama District Court determined in a civil suit filed by Iijima's parents that Sasaki murdered the victim, and ordered him to pay 97 million yen in damages to the plaintiffs.

The ruling prompted prosecutors, who once abandoned the case, to charge Sasaki. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 2, 2003)