Overview
- Prosecutors on Monday formally asked the court to sentence 23-year-old Riko Uchida to 27 years in prison, closing their case and setting a lay-judge verdict date for June 22.
- A written apology from Uchida read in court admits she confined, threatened, assaulted and stripped the 17-year-old and says she failed to call for help after the incident.
- Uchida told the court she had no intent to kill the girl and said a female accomplice carried murderous intent, repeating this defense during questioning on June 4.
- The indictment says Uchida and others forced the victim to sit naked on a suspension-bridge railing, recorded an apology on video and shouted for her to fall before she plunged into the river.
- The case will be decided by a mixed panel of citizen and professional judges and has drawn attention to group bullying linked to social-media disputes and to how Japan’s lay-judge system handles violent youth crimes.