The Yokohama District Court sentenced a 25-year-old man Thursday to a life prison term for causing two women to die of exposure after he drugged them, robbed them and dumped them outdoors in Kanagawa Prefecture between late 1998 and early 1999.
"The defendant bears serious criminal responsibility, because the crimes are equivalent to willful negligence resulting in death," presiding Judge Hiroshi Yamura said in sentencing Katsumi Hoshino to life, as prosecutors sought.
Hoshino, who was unemployed and had no fixed address, drugged, robbed and abandoned the two Kanagawa Prefecture women — a 24-year-old from Hiratsuka and a 20-year-old from Fujisawa — resulting in their deaths in December 1998 and January 1999, the court said. Hoshino became acquainted with the women, whose names were not disclosed, through a telephone message service.
"The crime, in which a telephone message service that allows users to remain anonymous was utilized, had a massive impact on society," Judge Yamura said.