I read a book called “Fight Against Despair: 3300 Days and Nights in Search of Justice” about the “Mother-Daughter Murder in Hikari” that shocked Japan on April 14, 1999.
When 23-year-old Yo Honmura returned home, he found his 23-year-old wife, Yayoi Honmura, and his 11-month-old daughter, Yuxia Honmura, brutally murdered.
A young boy, Takayuki Fukuda, who had just turned 18, disguised himself as a plumber, entered the house, strangled Yayoi and sexually assaulted her body, and then strangled Yuki, who was crawling towards her mother, crying.
The happy family of three is left all alone in one night.
The case wasn’t hard to solve, and only four days later, the police found Takayuki Fukuda.
However, when it comes to the trial stage, Hiroshi Homura is dismayed to discover that the entire system is a tug-of-war between the judge, the prosecutor, and the suspect and his lawyer. The victim’s survivors are neither considered by the system nor allowed to do anything.
In the face of the judicial system, the suspect is, of course, the “weaker” one. The criminal justice system as a whole has designed a series of protections and checks and balances to prevent the rights of the suspect as a vulnerable person from being violated.
However, in the case of victims and survivors, the system behaves as if it has forgotten that these people are also entitled to fairness and justice.
Lawyers opposed to the death penalty voluntarily formed an extravagant legal team for Takayuki Fukuda, and the Yamaguchi District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment in the first instance on the grounds of “the defendant’s mental immaturity/ poor family environment/ intention to reflect” – life imprisonment means parole for a juvenile offender with only seven years to serve.
Hiroshi Motomura is outraged to find that the entire justice system has betrayed the victims and their survivors.
The judge’s verdict had nothing to do with this particular case, but was based on a “sentencing doctrine” that was based on past cases.
The judge is not the victim’s companion, but rather his enemy.
A trial is not a place for the victim’s care.
After the first trial, Hiroshi Motomura said the following…
I’m desperate for justice; I don’t expect any more appeals or complaints, I just hope that the judiciary will quickly release the defendant from prison and put him where I can see him – then I’ll kill him with my own hands!
The moment I heard the verdict, I felt that I had lost not only to the justice system, but also to the prisoner. I couldn’t protect my wife and daughter, and I couldn’t avenge them. I was so helpless. Now I can’t even look at the photos of the two of them, nor can I report the results to them. Faced with such a cruel betrayal of justice, I don’t know what to believe anymore. As a result, I think my enemies are not only the defendants, but also the judiciary.
The families themselves must also recover from their injuries! We have to work hard to get rid of our hatred and resentment, and find the goodness in our hearts again. …… is the only way to do that!
“As a family member of the victim, what is most frustrating is hearing people cite many past cases and use the juvenile crime cases to date as a benchmark, saying, ‘There have been juvenile crime cases in the past, but they were only sentenced to life imprisonment, so this time it will be life imprisonment according to the consistent jurisprudence.’ Even the judge was reluctant to overturn this benchmark, even citing the misfortunes the defendants had encountered in their family backgrounds to defend the sentence.
However, everyone has their share of misfortunes, but most people try to survive in the face of adversity and try not to go down the wrong path. I myself was once seriously ill, and my wife grew up in a single-parent household with a divorced mother. Even under these circumstances, we all tried to move forward positively as human beings with our own conscience and not to do anything illegal. If the sentence can be reduced just because of a family’s misfortune, then the sentence can be reduced for almost any crime.
Furthermore, it is possible that a juvenile may be able to start a new life in the future, but it is also possible that he may kill again. When I read up on juvenile law, I discovered that in juvenile criminal cases, if the sentence is life imprisonment, the prisoner can be released on parole in as little as seven years. In other words, a 19-year-old now could be back in society by the time he’s 26; he might commit the same crime again by then. Could the judge who had handed down the life sentence, or the defence lawyer, be held accountable? It is the judge’s freedom to hand down a life sentence, but I would like to ask the judge if he can take full responsibility for the sentence he handed down.
Not giving up, Hiroshi Motomura’s voice pushed the Japanese government to pass three bills focusing on victims and survivors, and prosecutors were impressed enough to accompany him all the way to the appeal.
In 1999, the case went to trial.
In 2000, the first trial was for life, and the prosecution and Homura appealed against it.
In 2002, the Hiroshima High Court upheld the first-instance verdict, and the prosecution and Honmura appealed against it.
In 2006, the Supreme Court reversed the original verdict of the Hiroshima High Court and sent the case back to the Hiroshima High Court for retrial.
In 2008, the Hiroshima High Court commuted the defendant’s death sentence. The defence appealed.
In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. The defense appealed.
To date, Takayuki Fukuda remains in custody at the Hiroshima Detention Center, awaiting execution.
Although Takayuki Fukuda has yet to be formally executed. But what Motomura did is still significant. He made the roar and voices of the victims and their bereaved families heard throughout Japan.
In 2008, in the courtroom of the Hiroshima High Court, Hiroshi Motomura concluded his statement by saying
I was no longer filled with anger and hatred as I had been at the time of the murder. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that my wife and my daughter’s murder is a crime that can only be paid for with my life.
As I grew older, I met more and more beautiful people and things, and my heart was often filled with emotion. I’m always learning about the beauty of life, and I feel it in my heart. Whenever I feel the beauty of life, I think of my wife and my daughter, who should have had a beautiful life ahead of them, and I can’t help but feel that they died too soon.
……
I am so grateful to have met my wife and to have been blessed by God with this daughter.
Unfortunately, I am unable to convey my gratitude to my wife and my daughter. I am very, very unhappy,” he said.
I can’t help but feel indignant at the actions of the defendant who took away my family’s future.
After losing my family, I realized the importance of my family and the value of life. It was my wife and my daughter who taught me that. I realized that it is a despicable and unforgivable act to take away a person’s life and to take away his or her life. Therefore, I believe that those who take the life of another person without permission should pay for it with their lives. This is my justice, and this is the justice I believe in. There is no point in having justice if we do not work for social justice and the well-being of society.
I urge the court to sentence the defendant who took my wife and my daughter’s life to death. For the sake of justice, I sincerely hope that the court will pass the death sentence.
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