I was astonished and outraged at the acquittal of Joji Obara in the Lucy Blackman rape and murder case. If Blackman did not get the justice that she deserved, at least her case will open eyes and make people question the quality of police forensic work and, above all, the credibility of the entire judiciary system in this country.
It was clearly demonstrated in the April 25 article "Obara gets life, but beats rap for Blackman" that Obara was convicted of other crimes because there were 200 videos showing him carrying out the crimes. Yet, according to the article, he appeared masked, so how could the court be sure he was the one in the videos? Was it because Obara admitted to it? If not, then Obara should be acquitted of the other crimes because it is possible that the person in the videos was "a third person."
Are the words of the accused more important than evidence defending the victim? Was Obara acquitted solely because no videos of him killing Lucy and dismembering her corpse were found among his collection? No video proof, no conviction. That is the message the court is sending to all victims and, indeed, to criminals.