The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling for a 54-year-old man sentencing him to an indefinite prison term over a robbery resulting in death in Komae, Tokyo, in 2023.

Presiding Judge Masato Ito dismissed an appeal filed by the defense for Hiroyuki Nomura against the verdict handed down by the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court in February this year.

The case was one of a series of high-profile robberies committed across Japan by a group led by masterminds using the pseudonym "Luffy."

On Jan. 19, 2023, Nomura, in conspiracy with other perpetrators, assaulted a woman, then 90, at her home in Komae and caused her to die, and stole three luxury watches worth about ¥580,000 in total from the house, according to the rulings by the district court branch and the high court.

The defense side claimed that Nomura did not use violence at all against the woman.

But the judge upheld the district court branch's conclusion, based on statements by other perpetrators, that Nomura repeatedly beat the woman with a crowbar.

The judge turned down the defense's claim that the indefinite prison sentence was excessive, saying that Nomura "bears grave responsibility for the death of the woman."

In the case, an indefinite prison term has been finalized for one of the other three perpetrators, and a 23-year sentence for another.

The remaining perpetrator has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against an indefinite prison sentence given at a second-instance trial.