The 28-year-old then wife of a wealthy businessman nicknamed "Don Juan of Kishu" in western Japan pleaded not guilty to murdering the man, then 77, during the first court hearing of her lay-judge trial on Thursday.
Saki Sudo is charged with murdering Kosuke Nozaki, who died of acute stimulant poisoning in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, in May 2018, and violating the stimulant drug control law. Kishu is the old name of a region that includes Wakayama.
At Wakayama District Court on the day, Sudo, wearing a black dress, black sandals and a face mask, said in a frail yet clear voice, "I did not kill him or make him take stimulants."
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