A 30-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for stabbing a police officer to death and making off with his service revolver in Aomori Prefecture last year.
In handing down the ruling on former construction worker Tomoaki Matsuda, presiding Judge Akiyoshi Yamauchi of the Aomori District Court said, "The crime of stabbing (the officer in the) chest, stomach and other places with a survival knife was cruel and outrageous."
The judge said Matsuda had not shown genuine remorse as he did not apologize for the crime until shortly before the trial ended and denied intending to kill the officer.
According to the ruling, Matsuda fatally stabbed Katsuo Sato, a 52-year-old sergeant at Mutsu Police Station, with a survival knife in the village of Higashidori on June 28, 2000, and fled with Sato's loaded handgun.
Sato had stopped Matsuda, who was driving a rented car bearing a Fukuoka license plate, following a report that a man in a similar vehicle had stolen gasoline from a gas station in Mutsu.
Police arrested Matsuda three hours after the stabbing in a nearby forest.