crime

Woman gets 13 years in prison for killing brother, abandoning mother's body

7 Comments

The Sendai District Court has sentenced a 56-year-old woman to 13 years in prison for killing her older brother and burying the body of her mother at their home in Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture, last year.

According to the ruling, Sachie Sato killed her brother Choichi, then 56, by beating his head with a hammer at least four times in March of 2015 and then hid the body under the floorboards of their house where it was found on Oct 20, 2015, Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday. The remains of the victim's mother, Kano Sato, 87, were also found buried in soil in the backyard of the home.

The court heard that the elderly woman was last seen in July 2015 after she stopped visiting a daycare center. When officials from the welfare center visited the home, they were told by Sachie that her mother was staying with relatives.

On Oct 19, 2015, Sachie visited her older sister and said she was tired of looking after her bedridden mother. The next day, at around 8:40 a.m., the older sister visited her mother's home, accompanied by staff from a welfare center and nursing home. The house was empty but they found a note from Sachie in which she said she had left with her mother. When they went outside, they noticed a mound of soil in which the elderly woman was buried and reported it to the police at a nearby koban.

A search of the house found the remains of a man under the floorboards. An autopsy showed that the man had a fractured skull. Police identified him as Choichi Sato, who had been missing since April, from his driver's license in the shirt's pocket.

Sachie was arrested shortly after and admitted to killing her brother. She said her mother had died of natural causes.

Prosecutors had called for a 16-year prison sentence.

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7 Comments
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What a monster women .... only 13 years

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Give her life. She bashed in her own brother's head. What she did was awful, but its even worse that the victims were her relatives.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

13 years for murder? Probably murdered her mother too and killed her brother cause he knew it was her.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Another headline

47-year-old man gets life in prison for murder of 10-year-old girl

What's the logic behind the sentences? Doesn't she also deserve life for committing two murders like the guy who killed 5 years old kid?

Will really appreciate if someone with knowledge about Japanese law can help me understand the reasons for understanding different punishment for taking lives.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What's the logic behind the sentences?

I don't know the logic behind it, but Japanese law is not precedent based like the US and some other countries. So the sentences are not based on what other similar cases resulted in, but rather on its own merits. Although I think they do sometimes refer to other cases, but they are not bound to their verdicts.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Give this Woman life in Prison!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No matter how long I live here, I will never understand the rationale behind the sentences meted out by the courts. They appear to be completely arbitrary, and bear little relation to the seriousness of the crime.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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