Joji Obara: Not Guilty of Lucie Blackman Killing

Richard Lloyd Parry
Tokyo

The Japanese property owner Joji Obara was acquitted of raping and killing the British bar hostess Lucie Blackman this morning in a devastating blow for her family and a grave embarrassment for Tokyo police and prosecutors.

Mr Obara received a life sentence in prison, nonetheless, after guilty verdicts on eight other charges of rape and one of raping and killing another Australian hostess. His legal team immediately said that he would appeal.

“Concerning the case indicted 27 April 2001 for abduction with an indecent purpose, rape leading to death and damage and abandonment of a dead body – not guilty,” the chief judge, Tsutomu Tochigi, said at the onset of the trial, referring to the Lucie Blackman case.

The verdict initially caused confusion in the crowded courtroom, as police interpreters whispered explanations to the families of Ms Blackman and of Carita Ridgway, the Australian woman killed by Mr Obara in 1992.

As journalists hurried out of the room to report the verdict, Lucie’s father and sister, Tim and Sophie, sat gravely in the front row of the gallery. A few yards in front of them was Mr Obara, who faced the bench. He reacted to the judge’s pronouncement of the words “not guilty” on the charge of killing Ms Blackman with a deep nod of the head.

During an adjournment for lunch, Mr Blackman and his daughter were escorted out of the court by embassy and police officials and did not speak to reporters.

“This verdict is broadly what we expected, however we have concerns about the Carita [Ridgway] case,” said Yasuo Shionoya, one of Mr Obara’s lawyers, said outside the court. “We will consult with our client but I think that he will certainly appeal.”

The six and a half years which Mr Obara has served in detention during his trial will be deducted from his life sentence – which, in Japan’s justice system, rarely means the full term of a criminal’s natural life. Mr Obara will be eligible for parole after ten years which, with the time off in detention, could be as early as 2011.

As well as the defence, the Tokyo prosecutors are allowed to appeal against an acquittal, so it is possible that the case will continue for several more years.

After a break for lunch, the judge continues to read out his detailed ruling on the case. One matter of controversy appears to have been cleared up however – the judgement states that, in deciding on the sentence, he has not attached much importance to Mr Obara’s payment of “consolation money” to a number of his victims.

Tim Blackman has been bitterly criticised by his ex-wife, Jane Steare for accepting 100 million yen (420,000 pounds) last year in return for a statement questioning some of the evidence against Mr Obara.

Mrs Steare, who refused a similar offer of payment, complained that Mr Blackman had acted immorally and fraudulently by accepting the money on behalf of the family, and warned that it could result in a reduced sentence, or even an acquittal, for Mr Obara.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mrs Steare, who divorcd Mr Blackman before the disappearance of their daughter, said this week: “As far as I am concerned, Tim accepted 100 million pieces of silver. Judas was content with just 30. It's bad enough losing your daughter in the terrible circumstances that Lucie died. But to then find out that her father seems to have colluded with the defence team has been emotionally crippling.”

Lucie Blackman was a 21-year old bar hostess in the Roppongi area of Tokyo when she disappeared in July 2000. But despite repeated appeals for information, by her family and by a visiting Tony Blair, nothing more was heard from her. Then in February 2001, her dismembered body was found buried in a seaside cave a few hundred yards from an apartment owned by Mr Obara.

Her head had been embedded in concrete, traces of which were found in his apartment. A police officer who was called there by suspicious neighbours a few days after Ms Blackman’s disappearance described in court his refusal to allow a search of his property. After his arrest, police found scores of videos in Mr Obara’s various properties, showing him having sex with drugged and insensible women, including Carita Ridgway, an Australian bar hostess who died in Tokyo in mysterious circumstances in 1992.

But there was no video of Ms Blackman and no direct evidence – such as a witness, a weapon or DNA traces – to prove absolutely that he killed her. The dead woman’s body was so decomposed that it was impossible to determine the cause of death and no traces of drugs were found in her body.

Instead there was an abundance of circumstantial evidence. Soon after Ms Blackman’s disappearance, the prosecutors say, Mr Obara visited a series of shops and bought camping equipment, quick-drying concrete, mixing equipment, cutters, scissors, hammers, and a chainsaw. The day after her disappearance he conducted internet searches on subjects such as disposing of a dead body.

He has admitted spending the evening before her disappearance with Miss Blackman at one of his seaside apartments. But he called witnesses who suggested that she died after taking illegal drugs provided for her by a dealer whom Mr Obara summoned to drive Ms Blackman home. The man in question died before the opening of the trial, and the witness who recounted his story is a self-described gangster boss.

Most Japanese defendants meekly confess their crimes; partly as a result, the country’s conviction rate for violent crime is more than 99 per cent, and Mr Obara’s chances of acquittal appeared to be almost non-existent.

But he has fought a stubborn battle aided by a large and constantly changing team of defence lawyers, private detectives, web site designers and ghost writers, and the fortune his family inherited from his late father.

Comments

[Mark Devlin]

Hi, there's a typo in this paragraph. The first "Obara" should actually be "Blackman".

"Mrs Steare, who refused a similar offer of payment, complained that Mr Obara had acted immorally and fraudulently by accepting the money on behalf of the family, and warned that it could result in a reduced sentence, or even an acquittal, for Mr Obara."

[Harry Krishner]

Deeply suspicious.

Circumstantial evidence isn't usually a barrier to handing out guilty verdicts in Japan, is it?

[angrysoba]

You say that most Japanese meekly confess their crimes but I have always wondered why confessions are often so candid and detailed. Could it be that the police are very clever in their extraction of confessions? I hardly believe that the majority of the suspects use the very words that they sign their name to.

[Andrew Milner]

For my part, I lean towards the identical evil twin brother scenario. Marginally more rational than the notion that immediately after escaping the clutches of one sexual deviant serial killer, Ms. Blackman was murdered by another. Condolence money is something of a red herring. It indicates some level of remorse thus to mitigate severity of sentence, while at the same time providing an indication of culpability. However, it is unfortunate that in public the Blackman family were unable to present a united front.

[timothy]

It's a mystery. Maybe it was the chap who killed the other British women. Both women were buried in sand or earth. Both British. Both in Tokyo. Er... Is he still on the run?

[Jun Okumura]

Technically, Mr. Obara will be eligible for parole in 10 years. However, as a practical matter, he will serve 20 years under the best of circumstances. So you won't see him on the streets for at least another 14 years at least.

More generally, a criminal is expected to serve a minimum of two-thirds of his/her sentence before he is paroled. Thus, some people believe the de facto minimum time to be served for life sentences will be increased when the upper limit for limited term sentences is lifted from 20 years to 30.

As for signed confessions (and depositions by criminal case witnesses as well), the only thing written by the suspect is his/her signature. Basically, the interrogator is an experienced ghostwriter who does not have the subject's best interests in mind. Regardless of Mr. Obara's actual innocence or guilt, he must have had plenty of time to work out his battle plans with this in mind before he was taken into custody.

[Ratih Harun]

Just out of curiosity how many women did he murder, and how many of them were from overseas? Being able to apply for parole in 10 years is is hefty enough not that it doesn't fit the crime as far as i know the japanese judicial system is quite strict and considering it is an international affair it affects the "face" of japan in light of the world cbut curiously how many murders did he commit? not admitted to. might the "red herring" be the amount of casulties not the 100 million silver coin.

[Andrew Milner]

Come along dear boy. New topic if you would be so kind. I've heard of writer's block, but you seem to have an entire ward. Surely there's a lot more that can be squeezed out of "Asian bimbos stealing our men". These Brit Chicks really rise to the bait. Here's one for you, inane questions for a first date. "Do you love children?" "I told you, they dropped charges." Politically incorrect corner or what?

[C Young]

It is absolutely unconscionable to see a sociopath being acquitted for murder, all evidences presented there were more than one killing and countless rape, even thou Murder of Blackman charge only had circumstantial evidence, however, they were overwhelming. This displayed that Japanese judiciary systems are deeply depraved.

[R Etches]

As C Young says above, cirumstantial evidence is one thing, but this is completely different. His track record, the internet searches, the purchases, the fact he admitted spending his time with her. I can't believe he has literally got away with murder. In general i do not approve of the death penalty, but having a personal interest in this case, i find myself believing monsters like him should be tortured and hung.