The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Friday by a 64-year-old man sentenced to hang for murdering a 9-year-old girl and four women between 1985 and 1994.
The top court's No. 2 Petty Bench let stand the sentence meted out by the courts of first and second instance, finalizing Yasutoshi Kamata's sentence.
Presiding Justice Hiroshi Fukuda described Kumata as "inhumane," saying he killed the girl and later demanded a ransom from her father, adding he "has no respect whatsoever for the dignity of human life."
Kamata abducted Kumiko Tsujikado, a third-grader, on a street in Osaka and strangled her at his home in the city in January 1987. Kamata also strangled four other women, aged between 19 and 46, between 1987 and 1994 over money troubles, the court said.
Kamata's attorneys demanded his sentence be overturned, arguing he was forced by police to confess.