crime

Man on death row for 1998 murders dies of cancer

9 Comments

A 66-year-old man on death row for killing two people in 1998 has died of cancer of the esophagus, Osaka prison officials said Friday.

Susumu Nakayama was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing Takemitsu Kikukawa, 37, and a female acquaintance, Minako Kobuchi, 40, on a street in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, in February of 1998. Nakayama had been having an affair with Kikukawa's wife at the time.

Nakayama had earlier been convicted or robbery and murder in another case but was released on parole after serving 18 years in prison.

He appealed his death sentence but the Supreme Court upheld it in 2006.

Prison officials said Nakayama had been ill since last June and died in the prison hospital at around 11 a.m. Thursday, TV Asahi reported.

His death leaves 130 prisoners on death row throughout Japan.

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9 Comments
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Good for the society .. otherwise parole again.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

If there is a god, he sure does work in mysterious ways and sure took damn long enough!!! There, I said what many of you were thinking but too scared to say it. Neg away... Or not, if you're not too scared. ;)

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Thank god! Any longer and he might have been proven innocent!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Susumu Nakayama killed two people while released on parole. He shouldn't be breathing the same air as the victims families.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

@KnowBetter

If there is a god, he sure does work in mysterious ways and sure took damn long enough!!! There, I said what many of you were thinking but too scared to say it. Neg away... Or not, if you're not too scared. ;)

Would you mind, sir, expounding on your glib and presumptuous comment?

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

I think dying of cancer is already a harsh way to die. Would have cost all tax payers money to keep him alive just to kill him later, that itself is another torment. All in all death was coming to him one way or another.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The dodgy prosecutors and police are breathing a collective sigh of relief.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

He cheated the gallows.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Nakayama had earlier been convicted or robbery and murder in another case but was released on parole after serving 18 years in prison.

This case just highlights how utterly ineffective the Japanese prison system is. After 18 years in prison he was still a violent individual incapable of operating in society.

The prison system is an archaic and idiotic institution, an hang-over from medieval times. Instead they need mental health institutions. A violent criminal could be rehabilitated in a couple of years, resulting in a massive saving to the tax payer, and released back into society to be a productive individual. You'd also see much lower rates of repeat criminals. And don't cry about how inhumane it would be drug these poor individuals, the current prison systems, where beatings and rapes are commonplace, are far less humane and cost the tax payer a fortune.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

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