Takuya Katsumata pleaded not guilty Monday as his trial opened over the slaying of a 7-year-old girl in Tochigi Prefecture in 2005, after initially confessing to the murder.
In the lay judge trial at the Utsunomiya District Court, the 33-year-old Katsumata said he did not kill Yuki Yoshida, while prosecutors said his confession was credible and that there were many pieces of evidence linking him to the victim.
Yoshida went missing Dec. 1, 2005, on her way home from school in what was then the city of Imaichi. Her body was found the next day in a forest in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture. Imaichi was merged into city of Nikko in 2006.