Mito, Ibaraki Pref., Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for stalking and murdering his former girlfriend in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, in December. Citing the more than 40 injuries found on the victim’s head and other parts of her body, presiding Judge Sadahiro Ariga of Mito District Court said the attack by Takumi Ouchi, 29, was “relentless and gruesome” and was driven by “very strong murderous intent.” Ariga also recognized that the killing was premeditated, noting that Ouchi misused a loss prevention tag to track the victim, Haruka Komatsumoto, then 31, and prepared a weapon. “The suffering of the victim, who was forced to lose her life in a sudden and senseless attack despite being pregnant, is immeasurable,” the judge said. The judge condemned Ouchi’s motive of wanting to go back to the time before he met the victim and reset his life after growing angry and frustrated over their breakup, calling this “nothing but selfish.” At the same time, Ariga acknowledged that Ouchi had expressed remorse. According to the ruling, Ouchi murdered Komatsumoto at her apartment in Mito on the evening of Dec. 31, 2025, by repeatedly striking her on the head with a hammer and stabbing her in the neck with a knife. He also loitered near her apartment on several consecutive days, starting Dec. 28, and attached a loss prevention tag to the back of her car’s license plate without consent to track her. Komatsumoto’s husband told a press conference in Mito after the sentence was handed down that he was “not satisfied with the ruling at all.” “Two lives were taken from me,” he said of Komatsumoto, who was five months pregnant at the time of her death. “I can only say ‘sorry’ to my wife.” As the first person to discover his wife’s body, he said, “I still can’t forgive myself, thinking I could have gone home earlier.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
