A 17-year-old Tokyo male has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for murdering his parents last year.
The boy was 15 at the time of the crime. It is the first time a court has given an actual prison sentence for a murder committed by a defendant under 16 since the revised Juvenile Law lowered the minimum punishable age to 14 from 16 in April 2001.
"It was a heinous and serious crime and it is difficult to say (the defendant) has been deeply repentant," presiding Judge Tsutomu Tochigi of the Tokyo District Court said Friday.