I was banged on the head when the presiding judge started...
"And about the indictment on April 24th, 2001 about Kidnapping for Forcible Indecency, Quasi Rape Causing Death, Destruciton and Abandonment of Corpses:
THE ACCUSED IS NOT GUILTY!"
The indictment that was done on April 24th of 2001 was about the all but famous "Lucy Blackman Case" that caught quite a bit of attention 6-7 years ago.
It was my first year here in Tokyo, and I walked around Roppongi for more than a month to cover the story.
It's one of those days I'd rather forget about.
my memories refreshed by this surprising decision with a partial but critical acquittal sentencing!
With this decision given out at 10AM, it became a really long and busy day.
The accused was sentenced to life anyways... And only the media were hyped up with the outcome...
頭をガツンと殴られた気がしたよ。裁判長がこう話し始めたときは…
「そして平成１３年４月２４日付け起訴事実のわいせつ誘拐、準強姦致死、死体損壊については、被告人は無罪！」
平成１３年４月２４日に起訴されたのは６、７年前に結構注目を浴びた有名以外の何物でも無い「ルーシー・ブラックマン事件」。
そのとき東京に来て１年目だったが、取材するために１か月以上も六本木をうろうろしたもんだ。
どっちかと言えば忘れたい日々だ。
写真：一部ではあるが決定的な無罪のびっくり判決で色々な思い出が呼び起こされ！
午前１０時に出されたこの判断で、かなり長く忙しい日になった。
どちらにしろ、被告は無期懲役を言い渡されたんだ…メディアだけが結果に大盛り上がりになってたよ…。
（以下に共同とＢＢＣの記事。和訳は略）
(ariticle from Kyodo)
◆Obara acquitted over Blackman's death, gets life for 9 other cases
TOKYO, April 24 KYODO
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Joji Obara to life in prison Tuesday for raping and drugging nine women, one fatally, but acquitted him of all charges involving the death of Briton Lucie Blackman due to lack of evidence.
The court handed Obara, 54, the life sentence -- as sought by the prosecution -- in the cases of five foreign and four Japanese women, of whom Australian Carita Ridgway died and two others were injured.
But the Tokyo businessman was found not guilty of the charges relating to Blackman, who was 21 at the time of her death in 2000, which included raping and fatally drugging her, and mutilating and abandoning her body.
Obara appealed the life sentence to a higher court shortly after the ruling was handed down.
Presiding Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said of the dismembering and abandonment of Blackman's body, ''There is no doubt (Obara) was involved in one way or another, but there is no evidence to link the defendant directly to the crime.''
''But the possibility that the act may have been committed by a third person cannot be denied and the purpose of dismembering (the body) has not been explained, so there remains reasonable doubt in terms of recognizing it as the defendant's crime,'' he said in handing down the ruling.
On the charge of raping Blackman resulting in her death, Tochigi said that, unlike with the other victims, there is no video recording of the rape and no evidence to prove that the defendant administered any drugs to her or assaulted her.
Although the judge said there is suspicion that Obara may have been involved in Blackman's death and that there are similarities between her case and the other women's, he said the court cannot determine he raped her based on supposition as long as the cause of her death is unknown.
Regarding the nine other cases, the judge described them as ''abnormal crimes involving unilaterally assaulting victims whose consciousness had been impaired due to drugs.''
According to the ruling, Obara brought the nine women to his condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, between February 1992 and June 2000, and raped them after drugging them using chloroform and other drugs.
Obara pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in all 10 cases in the course of the trial, which lasted about six-and-a-half years.
On Blackman's case, the center of attention in the trial, the indictment said Obara made her drink a beverage laced with a drug before raping her at his condominium in July 2000. She subsequently died, and Obara was accused of dismembering her corpse and abandoning it in a beachside cave nearby.
The dismembered body of Blackman, who worked as a hostess in Tokyo before she went missing in early July 2000 -- about two months after arriving in Japan -- was found in the cave in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in February 2001.
Obara, who had already been arrested over the cases involving other women, was served a sixth fresh arrest warrant in April 2001 over the case involving Blackman and indicted based on the fact that his mobile phone call records matched Blackman's movements and that he was suspected of committing similar crimes.
In April 2006, Blackman's parents testified in court, calling for the ''maximum penalty'' for Obara.
Blackman's father Tim, 53, and sister Sophie, 26, who were in the courtroom to hear the ruling Tuesday, later told a press conference in Tokyo they were satisfied that Obara was sentenced to life imprisonment, the maximum penalty possible in the cases.
But they also expressed disappointment that the defendant was found not guilty over Lucie's death and that they discovered later that the prosecution had not put forward in the trial a key piece of evidence related to the case.
''I think our whole family who were in the courtroom today felt an immediate rush of elation,'' Tim Blackman said. ''We thought, 'Fantastic. That is a real wonderful result.' And then suddenly within three or four seconds, our balloon was burst when we found that the prosecution had failed to prosecute justice for Lucie.''
He said he was all the more upset to find out in the course of a meeting with the prosecution team following the ruling that certain evidence, which he declined to elaborate on at this stage, was not presented in the trial.
The prosecutors had said in their closing statement that the defendant committed ''bizarre acts unprecedented in the history of sexual crimes.''
Obara's lawyers argued, however, that there is no decisive evidence to implicate him in Blackman's death, saying his DNA was not detected on the woman's body and that the cause of her death has not been determined.
Concerning Ridgway, the defense team said there is no proof that her death was caused by drugs, but Tochigi said she suffered fulminant hepatitis as a result of the use of chloroform and subsequently died.
Ridgway died Feb. 29, 1992, at age 21 at a Tokyo hospital about two weeks after she was drugged and raped by Obara.
The Australian victim's family released a statement Tuesday afternoon as they met reporters in Tokyo stating, ''The sentence handed down by the court ensures that Obara will never be allowed to harm others. This, in itself, is of some comfort to Carita's family.''
The statement, read out by Ridgway's mother, Annette Foster, 58, alleged that the Japanese police did not adequately investigate Obara over the Australian's death.
''Carita's family do not understand how, despite their concerns raised with the police about Obara's involvement with Carita's death, that the police did not even interview Obara in 1992,'' the statement said.
''Carita's family firmly believe that if Obara had been interviewed and properly investigated in 1992, he would have been stopped at that time,'' it said.
==Kyodo
(article from BBC)
Man cleared over death of Lucie
A 54-year-old Japanese businessman has been cleared of raping and killing British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
But Joji Obara was jailed for life for raping nine other women, including one - Australian Carita Ridgway - who died.
The judge said there was no proof Obara alone was responsible for the death of Miss Blackman, 21, of Sevenoaks, Kent, who disappeared in Tokyo in July 2000.
Lucie's mother, Jane Steare, said: "I'm heartbroken. I just can't believe this. My worst fears have come true."
Miss Blackman was working in a Tokyo bar when she vanished.
Her dismembered body was found in a cave near Obara's home in the village of Miura in February 2001.
Miss Blackman's father, Tim Blackman, and her sister Sophie, were in court to hear the verdict. They immediately left to consult their lawyers and have not yet commented on Obara's acquittal.
BBC Tokyo correspondent Chris Hogg said that under Japanese law the Blackman family themselves have no grounds to appeal against the court's decision.
They could try to mount a form of civil action but as Obara has been declared bankrupt there would seem to be little point.
Our correspondent said Obara showed little emotion as the judge told him he would be sentenced to life in prison for killing Carita Ridgway in 1992 and eight other rapes.
Obara lured Miss Ridgway to his apartment just south of Tokyo, where he drugged her and raped her. She later died in hospital of liver failure.
Videotapes found
A video seized from his home showed him attacking Miss Ridgway and using a towel soaked with chloroform to keep her unconscious.
Miss Ridgway's mother, Annette Foster, welcomed the conviction but criticised the Japanese police.
"If Obara had been investigated in 1992, it would have stopped the crimes he committed for the next eight years," she said.
Obara admitted he had been with Miss Blackman on the day she disappeared but claimed she became unwell at his apartment after taking drugs.
He said he then called an acquaintance, known by the nickname Kacchan, and asked him to take her back to Tokyo. Kacchan has since died which meant his story could not be challenged.
Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said: "There is nothing to prove that [Obara] was involved in the rape and her death. The court cannot prove he was single-handedly involved in her death."
The judge said it was clear the victim and the accused were together before she vanished and then died but he said this was not enough to secure a conviction.
Planning to appeal
Obara's lawyer, Yasuo Shionoya, said his client would lodge an appeal against his conviction in the Carita Ridgway case.
"Regarding Carita's case, I think we will have to file an appeal. It's very plausible that we would file an appeal in the other cases as well," said Mr Shionoya.
The judge said Ms Ridgway, who died of hepatitis at a Tokyo hospital in February 1992, had been drugged with chloroform by Obara.
But Mr Shionoya said: "I doubt whether liver failure could have been triggered by the use of chloroform."
Obara was arrested on charges of rape resulting in the death of Ms Blackman in 2001 and had been on trial at Tokyo District Court since 2003.
Mr Blackman, from the Isle of Wight, spent thousands of pounds travelling to Japan to try to get the local police to investigate his daughter's disappearance as a suspected crime.
Eventually, after he enlisted the support of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Japanese counterpart, the police arrested Obara, a property developer who had a seaside home at Miura, outside Tokyo.
Last year Mr Blackman accepted 100 million yen (￡450,000) from a friend of Obara, but he denied it was "blood money" and said such "offers of condolence" were common in Japan and did not affect the court case.
TIMELINE
1 Jul 2000: Lucie Blackman vanishes in Tokyo
21 Jul 2000: Tony Blair meets Lucie's parents and promises to raise their daughter's disappearance with Japan's PM
11 Oct 2000: Japanese police arrest and question Joji Obara, who is in custody in connection with several other rapes
9 Feb 2001: Police find Miss Blackman's body parts in a cave at Miura, near Tokyo.
27 Nov 2003: Obara goes on trial in Tokyo
24 Apr 2007: Obara acquitted of killing Miss Blackman
Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 11:09 GMT 12:09 UK
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