Murder of Airi Kinoshita

In 2005, Airi Kinoshita (木下あいり, Kinoshita Airi, April 10, 1998 – November 22, 2005), who was a seven-year-old first grade student from the Japanese city of Hiroshima, was sexually assaulted and murdered by José Manuel Torres Yake (born February 1972). He assumed the false name Juan Carlos Pizarro Yagi. Torres was wanted for a child sexual abuse charge at that time in Peru.[1]

Airi Kinoshita
木下 あいり
Born
Airi Kinoshita

(1998-04-10)April 10, 1998
Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
DiedNovember 22, 2005(2005-11-22) (aged 7)
Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Cause of deathMurder by suffocation
NationalityJapanese
OccupationStudent
Known forMurder victim
Parent(s)Kenichi Kinoshita (father)
Miwako Kinoshita (mother)
Websitestophanzai.web.fc2.com
José Manuel Torres Yake
BornFebruary 1972 (age 48)
Guadalupe, Peru
Criminal statusIncarcerated at Hiroshima Detention Center, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Children2
Criminal chargeIllegal entry into Japan, sexual assault, murder and abandonment of corpse
PenaltyLife without parole

Murder

An autopsy revealed that she had been murdered within 90 minutes of leaving school around lunchtime on Tuesday, November 22, 2005. She died of suffocation caused by pressure to the neck. A local resident spotted the tape-bound cardboard box in which her body was found in a vacant lot in Hiroshima's Aki Ward. The box had been used as packaging for an oven sold in Higashi. Police said they suspected her killer lured Airi away as she was walking home and killed her soon afterwards. Her schoolbag was found alongside a road about 300 meters away. She had been carrying a so-called crime prevention buzzer but it was missing when her body was found.

300 people attended her funeral in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, her father Kenichi's hometown. The mourners included Ground Self-Defense Force members who served with her father and a soldier. "I was deeply shocked when I was told by police that she was probably murdered," her father said in an address during the funeral. "I feel animosity toward the person who committed the crime. I hope the culprit is caught soon."

Arrest and trial

Japanese police arrested Torres on November 30, 2005. He insisted that he was a Peruvian of Japanese descent. Before the arrest, the Japanese mass media suspected that the criminal was an otaku, but this proved to be false.

At first Airi's real name was reported in the Japanese mass media. However, when it was revealed that she had been sexually assaulted, the Japanese media stopped using her real name. Despite this, Airi's relatives wanted her real name to be reported. On June 26, 2006, her father Kenichi said:

Airi is not 'a Hiroshima first-grader'. She lived here. It is all right to use her name.[2]

After this speech, Japanese mass media resumed reporting Airi's real name. The speech made the name Airi Kinoshita famous in Japan.

On July 4, 2006, the Hiroshima District Court sentenced Torres to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting and killing the girl, citing his haphazardness.[3] He had dumped the girl's body close to his apartment. Prosecutors appealed against the leniency of the sentence, demanding the death penalty. On December 9, 2008, the Hiroshima High Court reversed and remanded the original verdict.[4] However, the Supreme Court of Japan demanded them to continue his trial. The Hiroshima High Court upheld the life sentence, resulting in the end of his trial because they had not submitted an additional appeal by August 12, 2010.[5]

Reaction

Kinoshita's death caused parents to panic in Japan, which had been thought to be a "safe society".[6]

Torres faced a child sexual charge in Peru, and so the incident also had influence on Latin America. A journalist, Kent Paterson, indicated him into debates of femicides in Latin America.[7]

gollark: ... where is the other instance?
gollark: +<markov 10
gollark: +<help
gollark: ++invite
gollark: Fascinating.

See also

References
  1. "Confessed killer dodged Peru court". The Japan Times. 2005-12-06. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
  2. "Slain girl's dad wants details of crime reported". The Japan Times. 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. "Killer of girl, 7, gets life term". The Japan Times. 2006-07-05. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  4. 女児殺害のヤギ被告、１審無期を破棄・差し戻し…広島高裁 (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. 2008-12-09. Archived from the original on 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  5. 小１女児殺害で無期懲役確定　検察、弁護側双方上告せず. Kyodo News (in Japanese). 47 News. 2010-08-11. Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  6. Joyce, Colin (2005-12-12). "Japanese parents in panic over murders". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  7. Kent Paterson (2006-03-08). "Femicide On the Rise in Latin America". Americas Program. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
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