High court to rule on appeal in Blackman case on Dec 16

Friday 03rd October, 06:00 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 20 Total Comments Show All

FandB at 11:07 AM JST - 3rd October

This guy has been spared the rope, because money talks in Japan when dealing with authority. Damn shame they aint gonna string this vile "thing" up.
WilliB at 11:08 AM JST - 3rd October

He might walk yet.
MissWorldTravel at 11:17 AM JST - 3rd October

the worst punishment for this guy pls.
GW at 11:28 AM JST - 3rd October

if J-Justice cant convict this thing & keep him locked up for life at minimum I just cant fathom the entire systems ineptitude, is thast even a word, this just make the blood boil, utterly disgusting
gogogo at 11:42 AM JST - 3rd October

she may have died after taking drugs at her own volition.

That is weak, it's like saying anyone could die at any second so I'm not responsible for drugging her.
northlondon at 12:07 PM JST - 3rd October

The cops blew this one as well. The building manager of Obara's apartment called the police the night that he was mixing cement and cleaning building tools in his apartment. Obara wouldn't let the cops in on a search warrant technicality, but from that moment on they should have been right on the ball and been searching for the evidence that would have incriminated Obara. They didn't find the right evidence.
frontandcentre at 12:14 PM JST - 3rd October

He had a proven record of drugging and raping women, and Lucie Blackman's dismembered body was found buried in a cave right by his house. Sounds like pretty compelling circumstantial evidence to me, especially considering (yet again) the blundering of the police in this case.

What I hate is that it almost sounds like the justice system is trying to make excuses for this despicable coward. I hope he does the decent thing and kills himself in prison
northlondon at 12:24 PM JST - 3rd October

the justice system is trying to make excuses for this despicable coward

Sounds right. Same old story. Obara's father is extremely rich and Obara inherited that money without lifting a finger in his life. They should not have allowed Obara to pay blood money to Lucie Blackman's father and they certainly should not have allowed an official record of that payment which I believe was allowed to be mentioned in court.
nigelboy at 01:10 PM JST - 3rd October

They should not have allowed Obara to pay blood money to Lucie Blackman's father and they certainly should not have allowed an official record of that payment which I believe was allowed to be mentioned in court.

If the trial were held under the jury system, it might have worked for the defense but in this case, I don't think it had any imapct whatsoever.
BBLeo at 01:26 PM JST - 3rd October

Drugs and alcohol is a prime motive around the globe. Japan need to introduce the jury system. The judges have their opinion for every case, but are they judging the facts of crime? Perhaps not because crime is growing daily and they need help and such help be with 'Jurors.'
DenshaDeGO at 01:30 PM JST - 3rd October

Just finished reading the Time article on the murder: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,108848,00.html

I hope he gets hanged, but most likely he'll be acquitted and everyone will forget the whole thing.
dennis0bauer at 03:42 PM JST - 3rd October

I wonder if he write a book and will become a TV-personality o__O
serindipity at 03:58 PM JST - 3rd October

Japan need to introduce the jury system.

Unfortunately, if Japan was to introduce the jury system there would be even less convictions. The way they publicize every perpetrator's name before a trial would make it impossible to find a jury that hasn't been influenced by the media. Or even worse, the perpetrator would get off the charges on the grounds of a mistrial. - This monster is sitting in a loop hole of Japanese law and he will not get charged with her murder. It's so stupid he can be charged with drugging her, cutting up her body, abandoning her body, but NOT for killing her. How stupid! He is directly responsible for her death and should be charged with murder and then, hung!
cleo at 04:30 PM JST - 3rd October

The way they publicize every perpetrator's name before a trial would make it impossible to find a jury that hasn't been influenced by the media.

They could have juries made up of the oldies who even after all this time and all this fuss rush off at the drop of a hat to the ATMs to wire their life savings to someone they don't know from Adam. It looks like they haven't been influenced by anyone.
kjunluc2 at 01:01 AM JST - 4th October

Too much of that gomen-money thing in Japan. It seems real justice is secondary. This guy needs to be taken outa the genes pool.