Japanese court sentences man to life for killing family of three

A district court in eastern Japan has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing a family of three four years ago.

The defendant, 43-year-old Saito Jun, was charged with using an axe to kill William Bishop Jr., a 69-year-old US national, his 68-year old wife, Morita Izumi, and their 32-year-old daughter, Morita Sophianna Megumi in December, 2022. The daughter had been visiting their home in Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture.

Prosecutors sought a death sentence, claiming he could be held fully responsible. But the defense argued the court should cautiously judge whether he is indeed the perpetrator, and should he be found guilty, he could not be held criminally responsible due to mental illness.

On Monday, presiding judge Igeta Hideki said that the defendant can be recognized as the culprit, because the victims' blood was on a weapon that was found in his domicile, among other evidence.

He also called the crime heinous and merciless, and based on a strong intent to kill.

As a conclusion, he handed down a life sentence avoiding the death penalty, saying it cannot be said that there was no problem in his ability to judge, as he had been suffering from a severe mental-health disorder at the time.

The bereaved family of the victims, who had sought the death penalty during the trials, released a statement, calling the ruling unacceptable as it was very far from the outcome they had hoped for.

The statement reads they have also demanded that the defendant acknowledge the gravity of the crime, and clarify his motives in his own words, but he had not confessed or showed any remorse.

It also said they are angered that the ruling has paid no heed to the preciousness of the lives that were lost.

Source: 3.nhk.or.jp, Staff, March 16, 2026

"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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