Kazuharu Shimada, a one-time member of the Yamaguchi-gumi felony syndicate, was convicted of homicide within the killing March 2016 killing of Tatsunari Ito in Hawaiian Bar Lapule in Nishi Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture.
Shimada was assisted by six others, together with Junya Motohashi, who presided over a gaggle of criminals. Among the many members had been three unnamed henchman, all of whom had been on the bar that day. Additionally current was his girlfriend and driver.
The physique of Ito, who was an worker on the bar, was by no means discovered because it was dismembered in a fish mincing machine after which incinerated. This delayed the emergence of the case, which prompted the statute of limitations for destruction and abandonment of a corpse to lapse by the point the case went to trial.
Consequently, these concerned within the corpse-related crimes had been by no means charged. Additional, solely Shimada was convicted of homicide, a cost he denied.
The trial, which unfolded on the finish of 2022, was stuffed with twists and turns. Since Motohashi had killed himself whereas in custody, solely the others appeared in court docket as witnesses.
Their testimonies had been convoluted and contradicting, which begged the query: What on earth occurred in that bar on the day of the incident?
Weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun (Dec. 2022) was within the courtroom searching for solutions. On this fourth installment (elements one, two and three are right here, right here and right here), The Tokyo Reporter editorial group supplies a synopsis of who did what and the place the physique went.
“I received actually offended”
On the opening of the trial, the prosecution argued, “Motohashi ordered [one of the henchmen] to purchase a field at a house enchancment retailer, put the physique in it, and introduced it to an ultra-low-temperature freezer in a market utilized by a intermediary wholesaler of frozen tuna meat and different merchandise owned by the defendant. Later, the defendant and Motohashi known as his henchmen, eliminated the physique, carried it to an organization run by the defendant, and dismembered the physique utilizing a reducing machine for tuna meat.”
The physique was then dropped at the freezer of one other firm run by one in all Shimada’s family.
“In October of the identical 12 months” — a full seven months after the homicide — “the defendant introduced the physique to an incineration facility in Saitama Metropolis and dumped it,” the prosecution added.
Shimada testified that it was Motohashi who compelled him to begin mutilating and disposing of the physique. “Can’t you allow the physique within the firm’s freezer?” Shimada had been requested many instances by his Motohashi.
He reluctantly agreed however on the situation that Motohashi would help.
“After that, not solely did Motohashi not contact me, however once I did, he would simply say, ‘Wait slightly longer, wait slightly longer.’ And a few days would move. Then I heard that Motohashi’s [third henchman] was spreading phrase concerning the case at a [hostess] bar. ‘I [strangled Ito],’ he was saying.”
Shimada knew that if phrase received out he’d have issues for the reason that corpse was in his firm’s freezer.
“I received actually offended at Motohashi,” he mentioned, “and informed him to consider his workers and the corporate and do one thing shortly.”
Confirmed the youthful technology
For the dismemberment, Shimada assembled Motohashi and his three henchmen. At one level early on within the course of, he scolded the third henchmen about spreading rumors.
“I informed him, ‘Don’t point out it once more,’ and for the work that adopted, I informed him, ‘Don’t say something pointless,” Shimada informed the court docket. “I’ll care for every little thing.’ The three of them didn’t react [to that] in any method specifically.”
On that very same day, the sufferer’s physique was dismembered utilizing a tuna-cutting machine, however Motohashi didn’t assist. “He simply gave orders to the younger males, and was busy on the telephone and did nothing,” Shimada assured.
Regardless, Shimada was the one individual on the scene who might use the tuna-cutting machine, so he had no alternative however to do it himself. He reduce up the physique with the machine whereas educating the three how one can use it.
“I used to be hesitant at first, however then I put myself on the market, set an instance, and confirmed the youthful technology how one can use it,” Shimada informed the court docket. “So then the youthful technology began utilizing it, too.”
However that was not the top of it.
“Motohashi by no means got here to choose [the body] up, and I by no means heard from him,” Shimada mentioned. “Moreover, I couldn’t get in contact with him. Once I contacted his driver, he mentioned, “[Motohashi] was injecting methamphetamine with [the third henchman] and transferring from resort to resort, so I couldn’t get in contact with him.”
Time handed after the physique was introduced to a different freezer at an organization owned by Shimada’s relative. Shimada knew that if the physique was present in that state, he could be the primary suspect. Seven months later, he transported the physique to the incineration facility by himself.
As if from the grave
The three underlings of Motohashi, in addition to his driver, his associate, and a mutual acquaintance appeared as witnesses on the trial, however every gave a distinct account. All the hearings had been held by video hyperlink, with members collaborating by way of display from separate rooms, they usually couldn’t be seen from the spectators’ seats.
In keeping with Shimada’s testimony, Motohashi was the initiator of the assault on the sufferer, and Motohashi and his subordinates had been additionally chargeable for the act that in the end led to his dying. Moreover, the testimony of the others revealed that Motohashi was half-forced to dismember and get rid of the physique, and that he was compelled to take action underneath unavoidable circumstances.
Nevertheless, the decision later handed down by the court docket mentioned that it was in truth Shimada who dealt the ultimate blow to the sufferer, and that Shimada was the central determine in dismembering and disposing of the physique.
Confused? There’s extra.
Previous to hanging himself, Motohashi penned a suicide observe, which didn’t say Shimada was the assassin. As if from the grave, Motohashi’s phrases had been learn to the court docket by the protection: “Of the three [henchmen], the third strangled [Ito}, and the first held down his legs.”
As well, the first henchman suggested that releasing Ito during the assault would result in police involvement. He testified that Shimada was responsible for the murder, saying, “Shimada put his buttocks on the victim’s torso and began to strangle him. He then changed position and ground his foot against the victim’s neck, as if to crush it.”
The second henchman then said something completely different. In response to the prosecutor’s many questions, he refused to give details, saying, “I refuse to testify because there is a risk of criminal prosecution.”
However, in response to questions from the defense lawyer, he said, “From the time of the interrogation, I explained that ‘Shimada didn’t kill him.’”
In other words, it was someone else.
“I didn’t see the end of the murder,” the second henchman continued, “but I saw someone other than Shimada strangling him. I don’t think that person would have done it if Motohashi hadn’t told them to, but it wasn’t me or Shimada.”
Defense lawyer: “Did you hear the person who strangled him say later at a hostess club that he was the one who killed him?”
Second henchman: “I saw the person who killed him spreading the word, yes.”
At the time of his arrest, the second henchman claimed something else. “I was scared of being indicted. I didn’t want to upset the prosecutor,” he said. He revealed that he signed a statement that was different from his understanding. At the end of the interrogation, he added, “I wanted to make it clear that [what I signed] was not true.”
The third henchmen, who’s suspected of boasting within the hostess membership that he was the important thing wrongdoer, additionally fingered Shimada, identical to his associate, the primary henchman.
“When the sufferer was mendacity on the bottom,” the third henchman mentioned, “Shimada held down his neck and stepped on him. Motohashi sat on the sufferer’s toes whereas chanting [Buddhist] prayers, straddled him and continued chanting. Motohashi informed the three to carry him down, however they didn’t.”
A mutual acquaintance and Motohashi’s driver each testified that they “left midway by [the incident].”
“He stripped me bare”
Although the testimonies of those that had been on the scene don’t match, all of them agreed on the that Motohashi’s girlfriend verbally abused the sufferer in the course of the incident.
Named Madonna, she is known as “Mado.” Within the prosecution’s opening assertion, they talked about that she was as one in all Motohashi’s lovers. Nevertheless, when questioned by the prosecutor, she repeatedly denied having been in a romantic relationship with Motohashi.
Moreover, in response to questions from the protection lawyer, she started to speak nonstop about how violent Motohashi had been.
“I don’t dwell with him!” she shouted. “I’ve a scary impression of Motohashi. He’s persistent. Actually persistent. He put me in a scenario the place I needed to do what he mentioned. He broke the home windows of my home to get in, he took my cash and valuables, and he was violent. He kicked me, punched me, pressed a lighter in opposition to me, burned me with the lighter, and strangled me many instances. I believed he was going to kill me! He stripped me bare. It was so sudden! He kicked me and punched me, and he modified so all of a sudden.”
When she was requested the explanation for this conduct by the lawyer, Mado raised her voice and cried, “I don’t know! In the event you’re going to ask me this query, I can’t reply it! If it’s like this, I can’t reply it! I can’t do it anymore!”
And with that Mado’s questioning got here to an abrupt finish.
Sentenced for theft
As beforehand reported, Motohashi operated a criminal offense ring. Subsequently, it isn’t stunning to be taught that he had been arrested earlier than.
Police first arrested Motohashi in January 2018 for theft and assault. On Might 23, 2017, he broke into the house of a person, then 78 years outdated, and stole a secure containing jewellery, a watch and different objects, with a complete worth of 5 million yen.
This crime was allegedly dedicated by seven folks, and among the many others arrested was Mado, however she was not charged and was later launched.
Motohashi was accused in a separate crime in February 2018. In that case, he allegedly confined a person inside a automobile in Fukui Metropolis and assaulted him with a bat because the automobile moved by town. The person suffered a lot of accidents, together with a damaged nostril. He was additionally arrested on a marijuana-related cost.
Motohashi was in the end indicted within the Utsunomiya case, receiving a sentenced of 15 years in jail by the Utsunomiya District Courtroom on December 14, 2018. It was round this time that police had been tipped off concerning the Lapule case.
The gamers > The sufferer > The smartphones > The witnesses > The decision
