Prosecutors demanded the death penalty Friday for a man accused of killing a woman he was convicted of raping in 1990.
Prosecutors told the Tokyo District Court that Takashi Mochida, 56, a former construction worker who had been convicted of a separate murder in 1976, killed the woman following his February 1997 release after seven years in prison, where he had been sent for raping and threatening her.
The same court sentenced Mochida for the rape in March 1990. While serving his term, Mochida, who had served an earlier prison sentence for homicide, plotted to kill the woman in revenge, prosecutors said. He made good on his threats two months after his release when he robbed and fatally stabbed her in the chest and stomach at her apartment in Tokyo's Koto Ward, they added. "He felt no compassion for the victim and killed her out of his own selfish reasons," prosecutors said in a statement. "He committed a murder in Hiroshima in 1976. It is impossible to correct his behavior. Considering the feelings of the victim's family, we cannot ask for anything less than the death penalty."
In court, defense lawyers insisted Mochida "did not clearly intend to kill the woman." The case will be concluded March 6 with the defense stating its final case.