Four youths and their parents were ordered Tuesday by the Tokyo District Court to pay a total of some 81.7 million yen in damages to the parents of a 16-year-old boy who was beaten to death in 2000.
The parents of Tomoyuki Oyama, a high school student, had demanded some 162 million yen in compensation.
The four beat Oyama at three locations, including a park in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, on May 6, 2000. They then dumped his body in a wooded area in the city of Sayama.
Presiding Judge Kikuo Asaka said the four had picked a fight with Oyama, an acquaintance of theirs, for no reason, and that the beatings escalated until he died.
"Furthermore, they lied to the victim's parents, who were trying to find their son, and caused them indescribable emotional anguish," Asaka said, adding the parents failed to properly supervise their kids.
The perpetrators included two teenage boys working as part-timers and a high school girl -- all three of whom were arrested and sent to juvenile training schools -- as well as a junior high school boy who was taken into custody and sent to a center that helps kids become independent.