Obara Trial Resumes

[Captain Japan]

This trial is something you don't read about in the Japanese media, for whatever reason...
Lucie's father returning to Japan
BBC

The father of a nightclub hostess from Kent who died while working in Japan is returning to Tokyo for the trial of the man accused of killing her.

Lucie Blackman, from Sevenoaks, was working in a Tokyo nightclub when she disappeared in July 2000.

Her remains were found seven months later and property developer Joji Obara, 51, was charged over her death.

Tim Blackman, who lives on the Isle of Wight, said he was flying to Japan on Tuesday to hear Mr Obara's evidence.

[Mike Oxlong]

...don't do follow-ups!

[japslapper]

This trial is something you don't read about in the Japanese media, for whatever reason...
]

If the pot stinks put a lid on it. Isnt that what they say?

[Taro Toporific]

...don't do follow-ups!

Sister of slain British woman says she wants court to harshly punish killer
Thursday December 2, 5:01 PM KYODO
The sister of a slain British woman whose dismembered body was found in a seaside cave in Japan four years ago said Thursday she wants the court trying the woman's alleged killer to mete out the harshest sentence if he is found guilty...more..

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Tim Blackman, left, father of a slain British woman Lucie Blackman, wipes tears on Thursday as his daughter Sophie offers a flower in front of the cave where Lucie's dismembered body was found four years ago along Miura beach, south of Tokyo.

[Taro Toporific]

... his daughter Sophie offers a flower in front of the cave where Lucie's dismembered body was found .

Did somebody leave a bottle of champagne too?

[Mulboyne]

Daily Telegraph: Father sees Lucie murder suspect take stand at last
The father of Lucie Blackman, the British woman murdered while working as a nightclub hostess in Japan, listened in court yesterday as the man accused of her murder gave evidence for the first time. Tim Blackman, 51, from the Isle of Wight, who earlier visited the isolated beach outside Tokyo where his daughter's body was found, said he was frustrated with the slow pace of Japanese justice.
...The trial has not yet entered the phase directly concerned with Miss Blackman. Her father said outside the hearing at Tokyo district court yesterday: "We were hoping for a resolution by the early part of next year but we are told that this will not be the case. "Perhaps there will be a conclusion this time next year but there are several things that could make it even longer

[Taro Toporific]

[Greji]

This trial is something you don't read about in the Japanese media, for whatever reason...
]

If the pot stinks put a lid on it. Isnt that what they say?

I don't see how you could honestly expect coverage on such a non-event. An FG murdered by a J-person. No one could possibly interested in that!

There is much more important news to be covered, such as FGs stealing bicycles, or overstaying their visas! That gives the J-people the true picture of the current crime wave and even Blinky will be able to get up on the sound truck for that. But, FG murdered? No chance!

[Taro Toporific]

...don't do follow-ups!

How the bubble burst for Lucie's alleged killer
Times Online, August 17, 2005, Reportage by Richard Lloyd Parry
THROUGHOUT his strange life, and the various identities that he created for himself, Joji Obara fled from cameras]....more....[/url]

[Mulboyne]

Although the trial is still progressing there doesn't appear to be a catalyst for ABC to cover this story now. It seems a fair summary and includes a short comment from a statement made by Obara's lawyer.

ABCNews: The Tragic Tale of a Tokyo Hostess

Neither Obara nor his attorney would talk to "20/20" directly. But in a statement released to the Japanese press, the attorney said Obara was a victim of "trumped-up charges resulting from international hysteria over the disappearance of Lucie Blackman."

[Taro Toporific]

Lucie Blackman's 'killer' offered family cash
http://www.itv.com/news/world_1217962.html

.....Obara, 52, is on trial in Tokyo charged with killing Ms Blackman and another foreign hostess, and with raping six other women. He is also charged with the abduction of Ms Blackman, rape resulting in death, and the disposal of her body.

Mr Blackman said that lawyers acting for Obara initially offered him 200,000 pounds but increased it to 300,000 pounds on condition that he did not appear in court next month and gave up his right to bring a civil case against the businessman.

Obara also offered 200,000 pounds to the grieving relatives of Australian Carita Ridgway who died after allegedly being drugged and raped by him in 1992.

This offer has also been rejected but Obara is believed to have paid around 10,000 pounds to at least one of his alleged rape victims.

Defendants in Japan who admit their guilt can pay compensation to their victims or their grieving families as a way of expressing remorse. Judges then take the payments into consideration when passing sentence.

But Obara has not pleaded guilty to any of the charges against him and he denies any involvement in Ms Blackman's death.

Mr Blackman said: "The whole point about it is that if you admit your guilt and then apologise to the family and make a compensation payment to the victim's family, then that is taken in Japan as being a strong show of contrition and sorrow for your guilt.

"But I don't understand what Obara is expecting to achieve by not admitting his guilt but then offering to pay money.

"It just looks like in this country 'Well, here's some money. I'm guilty' but in Japan it isn't. That's just the difference in our cultures, I suppose."

[Taro Toporific]

Mother of slain British woman Lucie Blackman testifies in Tokyo court
Crisscross - News - Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 16:16 EDT
TOKYO ---The mother of a British woman who died in Japan in 2000 testified at the Tokyo District Court on Thursday, seeking a severe verdict for Joji Obara, who was indicted for raping and fatally drugging her daughter. Jane Steare, the mother of Lucie Blackman, demanded the court "hand down the most severe sentence in its power."...more...

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]Caption:
TOKYO, JAPAN - APRIL 25: Lucie Blackman's father Tim Blackman arrives at the Tokyo District Court where the trial of Joji Obara, suspected of the murder of British citizen Lucie Blackman, takes place on April 25, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. Tim Blackman attends the hearing to deliver a statement to the court detailing the impact of the death of his daughter to his family.
Getty Images, 25 Apr 2006 12:00 AM

[Taro Toporific]

Mother of slain British woman Lucie Blackman testifies in Tokyo court
Crisscross - News - Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 16:16 EDT
TOKYO ---

Lucie Blackman's mother breaks her silence
Daily Mail 11:49am 4th May 2006
....one of the most difficult things for Jane following her daughter's disappearance, she says now, is the insinuation that Lucie was working as a prostitute....
"She wasn't stripping, she wasn't sleeping with the customers. She was paid to pour drinks and make small talk with the businessmen, who in Japan go to hostess bars in the same way that men here go to the pub.....more....

[Mulboyne]

Lucie Blackman's 'killer' offered family cash
http://www.itv.com/news/world_1217962.html

Kyodo via Japan Today: Lucie Blackman's accused killer sends Y100 mil to her family in Britain

Joji Obara, who is charged with raping and fatally drugging a British woman in 2000 in Japan, has sent 100 million yen to the woman's family in condolence for her death, his lawyers said Saturday. The lawyers said Obara, who pleaded not guilty in the case, had sent the money to the family of Lucie Blackman as he felt "moral responsibility"...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Lucie Blackman's accused killer sends Y100 mil to her family in Britain

Murder victim's father accepts payout from suspect's friend
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 42 minutes ago
Tim Blackman was paid 100 million yen (&#65505]... [/URL]

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Lucie's mother condemns cash talks

...The mother of murdered Lucie Blackman turned down an offer of 200,000 pounds and accused her ex-husband of "betrayal" for allegedly negotiating the condolence payment. Jane Steare told Reuters Tim Blackman, her ex-husband and Lucie's father, was negotiating against her wishes. "I have rejected all and any payments from the accused, as have my daughter, Sophie, and my son, Rupert," she said. She said she had been told by London's Metropolitan Police that Blackman had gone to Tokyo to negotiate payment on his own account with the defence lawyers. "He is conducting these negotiations against my wishes and the pleas of his children. Lucie's loyal family and friends are sickened by Tim Blackman's utter betrayal." Steare separated from Blackman in 1995 and has since remarried...

[Greji]

Reuters: Lucie's mother condemns cash talks

The victim's family, of course, has the right to accept or turn down the offer of any money, but persons who are involved that may be subjects, suspects, or otherwise accused, are generally expected to offer funds as a form of solatium. This is neither an admission of guilt, nor should it be considered one. The judge(s) will ask or determine if this has been done in any case involving injury or death and it will be used in their construction of their "understanding" of the individual's person, character, or treament of responsibility to society.

If the money was offered as some other reason such as a private settlement, it is a horse of a different color.

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

Report: Lawyers argue Japanese man did not kill British bar hostess
IHT

TOKYO, Japan: Lawyers for a Japanese man accused of raping and fatally drugging a British bar hostess told a Tokyo court that he was not involved in her death, a news report said Monday.

Joji Obara, 54, is charged with rape leading to the death of Lucie Blackman. Prosecutors claim Obara gave Blackman a fatal drug overdose and raped her before dismembering her body in June 2000.

In closing arguments at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, defense lawyers said Obara was innocent, Kyodo News agency reported.

"There is no decisive evidence (to implicate Obara), nor is the cause of the victim's death clear," the report quoted lawyers as saying....more...

[amdg]

[IkemenTommy]

When the trial is over and Obara walks free, he will write the pseudo-OJ book of his own "How I Did it"

[dimwit]

The case is too widely publized in Japan. He will get convicted but won't swing as he most certainly would have if his victims were Japanese. My guess is that he will get about 20 years.

[Captain Japan]

Obara gets life term but acquitted in Blackman case
Mainichi

Joji Obara, the man accused of causing the death of two women, including Briton Lucie Blackman, was Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tokyo District Court.

But Obara was acquitted of the charges related to Blackman after the court cited a lack of evidence.

He was accused of assaulting 10 women, two of who died.

[Captain Japan]

This story has a pretty good summary of everything up until today...
Approach to Blackman slaying hit, likened to Keystone Cops
Japan Times

After years of litigation closely watched around the world, a court will decide Tuesday if property developer Joji Obara is guilty of the deaths resulting from drugging and raping foreign women Lucie Blackman and Carita Ridgway and eight other rapes.

In the Blackman investigation, the highest profile of the 10 cases, despite pressure from the British government and frequent visits to Japan by Blackman's family since her disappearance in July 2000, authorities were never able to assemble enough evidence to charge Obara, 54, with murdering the former stewardess-turned-Roppongi bar hostess. He denies the charge.

Blackman's dismembered body was discovered in a cave on Kanagawa Prefecture's Miura Peninsula in February 2001, about 200 meters from one of Obara's many summer getaway homes....more...

[Blah Pete]

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070424-00000002-yom-soci
Obara gets life. Not guilty of Lucy Blackman drugging, raping, murder, mutilation or abandoning the body.

[TFG]

So, just what was he convicted for? The Mainich report is rather ambiguous.
Did they just charge him with multiple assault or the death of the two that died from his actions? Funny how we are not seeing clear photos of this guy and he always seems to wearing something to disguise himself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Joji Obara, the man accused of causing the death of two women, including Briton Lucie Blackman, was Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tokyo District Court.

But Obara was acquitted of the charges related to Blackman after the court cited a lack of evidence.

He was accused of assaulting 10 women, two of who died. (Mainichi)

[Big Booger]

Funny how we are not seeing clear photos of this guy and he always seems to wearing something to disguise himself.

I thought the same thing. Why are they publishing these 1970s images of the man in sun glasses?

[Mulboyne]

That verdict always seemed the most likely. No matter how much the available evidence in the Blackman case pointed towards Obara, it was all circumstantial and the best hope was a confession which never came. The key question now is whether Obara will appeal. I think the prosecution also has the option to appeal.

If the verdict holds then society owes the Blackman family thanks for getting this monster off the streets. Sadly, they haven't got him held to account for the crime they really cared about so I'm sure they are not feeling satisfied. A BBC report describes them as being "confused" in the courtroom: I hope the embassy people had the wit to explain to them beforehand what result might be expected.