Crime & Courts

Prosecutors Seek 30 Years for Man Charged with Stabbing Ex-Girlfriend to Death Near Hakata Station in Fukuoka

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Fukuoka District Court and The Fukuoka High Court. In Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:15 JST, June 24, 2024

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Susumu Terauchi

Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence for a man charged with murder, violation of the anti-stalking law and other charges for stabbing his former girlfriend to death near JR Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture last year.

During the fifth session of the lay judge trial at Fukuoka District Court on Monday, prosecutors argued that Susumu Terauchi, the 32-year-old defendant, committed the crime “with a strong intent to kill [the woman] with extreme brutality and without a shred of mercy.”

Terauchi killed Miki Kawano, then 38, on a street near JR Hakata Station in January last year. The defense argued for acquittal on the charge of violation of the anti-stalking law.