High court orders killer who turned self in after case expired to compensate family

The Mainichi Shimbun
February 1, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080201p2a00m0na014000c.html

A former guard who turned himself in over the 1978 murder of a teacher after the statute of limitations on the case had expired was ordered to pay the teacher's bereaved relatives 42.55 million yen in compensation in a high court ruling.

In handing down the Tokyo High Court ruling on Thursday, Presiding Judge Kaoru Aoyagi altered an earlier ruling and granted compensation for the killing without applying the 20-year limit on seeking damages under the Civil Code.

"Letting the perpetrator evade the obligation to pay compensation because 20 years have passed goes against the principles of justice and fairness," the high court ruling said.

The court added that the case involved special circumstances in which 20 years passed before the victim's inheritors were confirmed because the former guard had hidden the female teacher's body.

The former guard will also be slapped with delayed damages, bringing the total amount he has to pay to over 100 million yen, far more than the 3.3 million yen he was ordered to pay in an earlier district court ruling.

The former guard, who worked at an elementary school in Adachi-ku, Tokyo, confessed to killing 29-year-old teacher Chikako Ishikawa, who worked at the same school, and hiding her body under the floor of his home. He turned himself in August 2004, but the statute of limitations on the case -- at the time 15 years -- had already run out.

Two of the teacher's brothers subsequently filed a damages lawsuit against the former guard. The initial district court ruling denied their claim for compensation over the death because of the 20-year limit on seeking claims, but granted them compensation for being robbed of the chance to hold memorial services because the former guard had continued to hide the body.

Ishikawa's brothers said they were happy with the latest ruling.

"We're really happy that the court understood the sadness of our older sister's death and the grief of the bereaved family. We want the former guard to take the ruling seriously, and sincerely apologize."

In December last year, the bereaved family members reached a separate 25 million yen compensation settlement with the Adachi Ward Government, which had employed the former guard.

（Mainichi Japan） February 1, 2008

Statute of limitations claim rejected; killer, who was never charged, ordered to pay damages

Japan Today
Friday, February 1, 2008 at 07:00 EST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/426734

TOKYO — The Tokyo High Court on Thursday ordered a man who murdered an elementary school teacher in 1978 to pay about 42 million yen in damages to her bereaved family, dismissing the defendant's claim that the 20-year statute of limitations on civil suits has already expired.

The amount represents a nearly 13-fold increase from the 3.3 million yen awarded in September 2006 by the Tokyo District Court, a decision the plaintiffs had appealed. The High Court also ordered the man to pay interest on the sum since the day of the murder, meaning the actual amount in damages he is required to pay to the victim's relatives will top 100 million yen.

The plaintiffs' legal agent said Thursday's decision marks the first time in Japan that a court has disregarded the statute of limitations in damages suits filed by crime victims or their bereaved families.

Presiding Judge Kaoru Aoyagi said, "The bereaved family did not know about the victim's death and could not exercise their right to sue at the time, and it therefore runs sharply against the principle of justice and fairness if the perpetrator is able to evade the obligation to compensate them simply through the lapsing of 20 years."

The three-judge panel ruled on a 180 million yen damages suit filed by the bereaved family of Chikako Ishikawa, who was a teacher at a public elementary school in Tokyo's Adachi Ward. Ishikawa was 29 when she was killed by a former security guard at the school in August 1978.

The killer, who is now aged 71 and lives in Chiba Prefecture, hid Ishikawa's body in his home for nearly 26 years, before finally turning himself in to police in August 2004.

But as the statute of limitations for murder is only 15 years and had already expired, prosecutors did not file any criminal charges against him.

The plaintiffs — Ishikawa's mother and two brothers — had named the Adachi Ward office as a co-defendant in the damages suit.

Last December, the ward office reached a compromise settlement with the plaintiffs at the same high court and agreed to pay 25 million yen. Following the settlement, Adachi Mayor Yayoi Kondo visited the home of the victim's parents in Otaru, Hokkaido, on Dec 23 to offer them condolences.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.