The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of a 66-year-old cult leader who was sentenced to seven years in prison for murdering a sick man by attempting to cure him through supernatural means instead of proper medical treatment, according to the ruling made available Tuesday.
It is the first time the top court has declared someone guilty of murder for not taking necessary measures to save a life.
Koji Takahashi "had a duty to give (the sick man) necessary medical treatment because there was no evidence that (the defendant) could save (the man's) life by himself," said presiding Justice Ryoji Nakagawa of the top court's No. 2 Petty Bench.
The justice added that, after the supernatural treatment apparently failed, Takahashi "left the situation as it was, with the intention to kill because he felt that he didn't care if (the man) died or not.
"That can be murder by failing to take necessary actions," the justice said.
Shinichi Kobayashi, 66, was being treated for a brain hemorrhage in a hospital in Hyogo Prefecture in 1999. But Takahashi, the leader of the Life Space Group, told Kobayashi's family to move him to a hotel in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, on July 2 that year, according to the Tokyo High Court's 2003 ruling.
Takahashi then tried to treat Kobayashi by tapping his body as part of a supernatural cure, but Kobayashi died the following day after suffocating due to phlegm in his throat, according to the ruling.
Kobayashi's mummified body was found in a room at the hotel on Nov. 11, 1999.
Takahashi's attorneys argued he had no intent to kill, because he was conducting traditional medicine.
The Chiba District Court gave Takahashi 15 years in prison in February 2002, but the Tokyo High Court reduced the term to seven years after ruling he did not intend to cause Kobayashi's death.