Public prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a life sentence for a 37-year-old man accused of masterminding the fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old female college student in 1999.
Takeshi Komatsu, a former employee with the Tokyo Fire Department, stands accused of the murder and defamation of Shiori Ino, who was stabbed to death in front of a train station in the city of Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, in October 1999.
In making their demand before the Saitama District Court, prosecutors said the defendant's claim of not being involved in the murder "cannot possibly be trusted." They said it was clear he was the leader of the group of men who killed the woman.
"It was a tenacious and heinous crime that required meticulous planning," prosecutors said, adding that the distribution of posters libeling the woman was also a malicious crime carried out by the group.