A former professional diver was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in prison Tuesday for confining and killing a freelance journalist in 2003.
The Tokyo District Court found Yoshihiro Kumamoto, 33, guilty of collaborating with two other men to confine Satoru Someya, 38, in a condominium in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6, 2003, and stab him to death on a boat in Tokyo Bay early the next morning.
Kumamoto got angry at the journalist for calling him a crook, according to the court. He pleaded guilty to the confinement and slaying but later denied intending to kill Someya. Prosecutors had demanded he get 16 years.
One codefendant, Keizo Sakurai, a 44-year-old former locksmith, received 16 years. His appeal was rejected by the Tokyo High Court on Tuesday.