Japan | Man arrested over murder of Osaka karaoke parlor owner asks for death penalty

OSAKA - A 57-year-old man who went on trial at the Osaka District Court on Friday for killing a 25-year-old woman at the karaoke parlor she owned last year, requested the death penalty when asked if he pleaded guilty or not.

Hiroshi Miyamoto, a company employee from Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture, is accused of killing Mayuko Inada whose body was found at around 10:45 a.m. on June 14, 2021, at her Gomachan karaoke parlor on the fifth floor of a commercial building in Tenjinbashi, Kita Ward, Osaka, Fuji TV reported.

Police said Miyamoto, who was a regular customer at the karaoke parlor, has admitted going to the parlor on the night of June 11 and killing Inada by stabbing her at least 10 times in the chest and neck.

A male friend of Inada, worried at not having heard from her, went to the building on June 14 and spoke to a woman who runs a coffee shop on the first floor. The woman, who was also a close friend of the Inada, has a master key to the karaoke parlor. She and the man went up to the fifth floor and let themselves into the locked karaoke parlor where they found Inada’s body.

In the opening session of Miyamoto’s trial, prosecutors said that building surveillance camera footage showed Inada going into the building at around 5 p.m. on June 11 but there was no footage showing her leaving the building.

Miyamoto regularly frequented the karaoke parlor where Inada used to work for four years up until January when she opened Gomachan.

According to media reports, Inada had told an acquaintance she was having trouble with Miyamoto who was constantly making advances toward her. Miyamoto is married.

Prosecutors said that Miyamoto waited until other customers left, killed Inada, then locked the karaoke parlor and took the key with him.

They also said a DNA analysis of blood found on Miyamoto’s clothes matched that of the victim.

After his initial statement, Miyamoto remained silent for the rest of the session.

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Source: japantoday.com, Staff, September 17, 2022

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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