55-year-old man goes on trial charged with killing woman in hotel in Ishikawa Prefecture

ISHIKAWA — The trial of a 55-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a woman in a hotel in Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, in September 2023 began at the Kanazawa District Court on Thursday.

The defendant was found mentally fit to stand trial after undergoing psychiatric tests, NTV reported.

According to the indictment, the defendant repeatedly stabbed a 23-year-old woman in the neck and chest with a knife at a hotel on Sept 10 last year. He also stole 19,000 yen in cash from the woman.

The victim, who was a sex worker, was found in a hotel room by an employee at around 1:30 a.m. on Sept 11. She was unconscious and bleeding from 10 stab wounds to her neck and chest. She was rushed to hospital but died about one hour later.

The court heard that the woman had checked into the hotel late the previous night with a man dressed in black. Security camera footage showed him leaving the hotel by himself at around 12:10 a.m. on Sept 11.

The defendant was detained on the street about 10 kilometers from the hotel at around 7:50 a.m. the same day. He had a blood-stained knife with him.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge and told the court that he meant to kill the woman whom he was meeting for the first time.

In their opening statement, prosecutors said that "in order to fulfill his desire to kill someone, he called the woman to come to his hotel room so that he could kill her.”

The verdict will be handed down on Nov 20.

© Japan Today