OITA (Kyodo) The Oita District Court sentenced four people to prison Monday for the 2003 murder of an Oita Prefecture man and for dumping his body.
The court sentenced three men to 10 years and a woman to nine for the murder of company employee Nobuyoshi Tokimatsu, 28. The names of the four have not been released because they were minors, aged 18 and 19, at the time of the crime.
The court said the four conspired with four others and killed Tokimatsu on June 20, 2003, put his corpse in a drum they filled with concrete and then dumped it in the port of Buzen, Fukuoka Prefecture.
In rejecting their denial of the charges, presiding Judge Hiroyoshi Suzuki said, "The conspiracy was (consummated) when they went to the victim's house together after deciding to kill him."
Prosecutors had sought 11 years for the three men and 10 years for the woman.
In a separate trial, Takaaki Murakami, 30, the main culprit, was sentenced to 16 years for killing Tokimatsu after getting into a quarrel. His wife, Midori, was sentenced to 10 years and Joji Morooka, who helped them dump the body, was sentenced to 1 1/2 years.
Eight people were indicted in connection with the case.