Tokyo District Court's Tachikawa branch on Friday sentenced a former university student to 23 years in prison over a robbery-murder in the city of Komae, western Tokyo, last year in one case among a high-profile series of robberies across Japan allegedly committed by the same group.
The ruling was the first on the Komae case. Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 25 years.
According to the ruling, Issei Nakanishi, the 21-year-old former student, broke into the house of a 90-year-old woman in Komae, conspiring with people including Rikuto Nagata, 22, on Jan. 19, 2023. Nakanishi was party to a fatal assault against the woman and theft of four items worth some ¥590,000 in total, including a luxury watch.
In the Komae case, three people, including Yuki Watanabe, 40, a leader of a special fraud group, have been indicted also for robbery resulting in death, for giving instructions to perpetrators. The ringleaders went by names including "Luffy."
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