KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. (Kyodo) The Kanazawa Family Court decided Thursday to send a 15-year-old boy to a reformatory for stabbing to death his mother's boyfriend in August.
Presiding Judge Kenji Kamiura said the third-year junior high school student, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, fatally stabbed truck driver Shinobu Kamikawa, hoping that this would enable him to live peacefully with his mother, 36.
The judge concluded it is reasonable to have the boy reflect on how to atone for his crime at a reformatory, taking into consideration his family environment, which was apparently a factor behind the murder.
The boy decided to kill the 37-year-old Kamikawa after he heard him and his mother quarreling on the night of Aug. 27 in their home, according to the court.