OSAKA -- A man and a woman charged with attempted murder in connection with the stabbing of a pregnant woman, which resulted in the death of her unborn child, told a court July 2 that they had no intention of killing the woman.
Keiko Nozawa, 29, a postal office worker, was stabbed as she returned home in April, ending her eight-month pregnancy. Prosecutors said 22-year-old defendant Emi Meguri had been having an affair with Nozawa's 31-year-old husband but that he had ended the relationship. Meguri asked the other defendant, Seiichi Hidaka, 25, to kill Nozawa's wife in revenge, the prosecution said.
In the first hearing of the trial on July 2 at the Osaka District Court, Meguri said, "Although I asked (Hidaka) to kill her, I knew through common sense that it could not be done. I had no serious intention of asking (Hidaka) to carry out the killing."
Hidaka said that when he stabbed Nozawa he also had no intention of killing her. Hidaka stopped Nozawa in front of her home around 7:40 p.m. on April 14 in Yao, Osaka Prefecture, and stabbed her in the back, inflicting serious injuries.
The unborn child died in her womb. The prosecution was unable to charge Meguri and Hidaka with murder because an unborn child does not have rights under the Penal Code.