High Court Backs Ex-Wife’s Acquittal over Death of “Don Juan of Kishu”

Osaka, March 23 (Jiji Press)–Osaka High Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that found a 30-year-old women not guilty over the death in 2018 of her then 77-year-old husband, a wealthy businessman nicknamed the “Don Juan of Kishu,” in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. The high court in Osaka Prefecture, near Wakayama, dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against Wakayama District Court’s December 2024 ruling. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence for the defendant, Saki Sudo. Sudo was indicted in May 2021 on suspicion of murdering Kosuke Nozaki by making him take a lethal dose of a stimulant drug at their home in the Wakayama city of Tanabe on May 24, 2018. Kishu is the old name for the region that includes Wakayama. As there is no direct evidence of the defendant’s involvement, the assessment of circumstantial evidence has been the central issue in the trial. Kazuhiro Murakoshi, presiding judge at the high court, said the fact that Sudo had obtained something like a stimulant drug in advance and was alone with Nozaki at their home and moved between the first floor and the second floor, where Nozaki’s room was located, more often than usual on the day of the incident “could be a circumstance raising strong suspicions” that she murdered Nozaki. On the other hand, the judge pointed out that it was not easy for Sudo to make Nozaki take a fatal dose of a stimulant without making him feel suspicious, adding that it cannot be said it was difficult to believe that Nozaki obtained a stimulant himself. Taking these circumstances into consideration, “it cannot be said, in light of empirical rules, the district court’s conclusion that ‘there is no proof that the defendant is the culprit’ is unreasonable and unacceptable,” Murakoshi said. During the proceedings at the high court, the prosecution argued that the district court failed to comprehensively assess evidence, while the defense for Sudo sought the dismissal of the appeal. Yoshihiko Hatanaka, deputy chief prosecutor at the Osaka High Public Prosecutors Office, said that the prosecution will decide its response after thoroughly examining the high court ruling. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]