Nov. 2
GAMBIA:
Another Murderer to Be Executed By Firing Squad
Justice Emmanuel Nkea of the Special Criminal Court in Banjul, Monday 31st of
October 2011 convicted and sentenced one Jawo Jallow to death.
The accused, Jawo Jallow, a Guinean, was alleged to have murdered his brother,
Jawo Jallow sometime in 2007 at Dimbaya Village in Kombo Central District of
West Coast Region, for having an affair with his wife.
The prosecution led by DPP Mikailu Abdulahi called two witnesses and tendered
exhibits including the statements of the convict.
Handing down the judgment, Justice Nkea averred that the defence did not deny
the death of the deceased, but that the convict acted in self-defence.
Justice Nkea pointed out that the defence put up a defence of provocation and
the learned judge cited some provisions relating to provocation in the laws of
The Gambia.
The judge said it was evident that the accused saw and met the deceased with
his wife and admonished him (the deceased) to stay away from his wife.
The judge disclosed that in the cautionary statement of the convict, which was
admitted in evidence, the convict said he met the deceased in the bush with a
cutlass in hand wanting to attack him, but he defended himself with the bicycle
and the deceased fell on the ground, the bicycle fell on the deceased and he
stood and pressed on the bicycle, but the sharp iron of the pedal entered the
eyes of the deceased and died on the spot.
Justice Nkea pointed out that this proof of evidence was no longer a defence
but that the convict vented his anger on the deceased because of his adulterous
act with his wife.
Justice Nkea however found the accused guilty of the offence of murder with
malice aforethought.
In his plea of mitigation, Lawyer Ngozi Gbugi begged the court to temper
justice with mercy, whilst the accused told the court that the incident took
place in Casamance but not in The Gambia.
Passing the sentence, Justice Emmanuel declared that the convict deserves
another chance in life, but since the murder was carried out in a violent
manner, the court has no discretion but to impose the full penalty of the law.
The convict was sentenced to death accordingly. The presiding judge however
ordered that the sentence be carried out by firing squad.
(source: All Africa News)
JAPAN:
Killer of 5 at pachinko parlor sentenced to die A man was sentenced to death
Monday in an Osaka District Court lay judge trial for the July 2009 torching of
a local pachinko parlor that killed 5 people and wounded 10 others.
In sentencing Sunao Takami, 43, presiding Judge Makoto Wada also ruled that
death by hanging would not violate the Constitution, rejecting the argument of
the defendant's counsel that it constituted "cruel punishment" forbidden by the
national charter.
While the sentence was handed down, Takami remained motionless.
Takami's lawyers had argued that execution by hanging, which Japan has been
carrying out for about 140 years, runs counter to the Constitution's ban on
"torture and cruel punishments by any public officer."
During the trial, an Austrian forensics specialist who has studied deaths by
gallows testified that such form of execution could possibly lead to
decapitation or not immediately cause death.
The prosecutors asserted that the Supreme Court has already ruled that death by
hanging is constitutional.
Takami poured gasoline on the floor of the pachinko parlor in Osaka's Konohana
Ward and set it alight on July 5, 2009, killing 5 people and injuring 10
others, the court said.
He was mentally competent at the time of the crime, the judge said, fully
accepting the charges leveled by the prosecutors although they had admitted
Takami was delusional due to past drug use.
The judge concluded that capital punishment was the only penalty possible,
because the attack was well planned.
In the lay judge trial, 6 ordinary citizens served as judges along with 3
professional judges. The lay judges' term of service of 60 days was the longest
since the system was introduced for serious crimes in 2009.
(source: Japan Times)
*************
Japan man to hang over 5 deaths in pinball fire
A Japanese court on Monday sentenced to death by hanging a man who killed 5
people when he set fire to a pinball parlour, reports said.
4 customers and1 employee died when Sunao Takami torched the "pachinko" parlour
in Osaka in July 2009.
Presiding judge Makoto Wada told Osaka district court that Takami should be
sentenced to death because the act was "extremely cruel", Jiji Press reported.
Wada ruled the defendant was mentally competent to bear responsibility for the
act, according to the Asahi daily.
The defence had claimed that at the time of his crime, Takami lacked the
ability to judge right from wrong because he was suffering from mental illness,
broadcaster NHK reported.
The sentence was handed down by a jury of 6 members of the public and a panel
of 3 professional judges. In Japan executions are carried out by hanging.
The 60-day trial was the longest since Japan introduced the so-called lay-judge
system in May 2009, allowing a jury of the defendant's peers to pass judgement.
Japan traditionally reserves the death penalty for cases of multiple murder,
and in January this year had more than 100 convicts on death row.
However, the number of executions has significantly dropped since the
centre-left Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009.
The only times the sentence has been carried out since then came in July 2010
when then justice minister Keiko Chiba approved and witnessed the executions of
two murderers, despite her opposition to capital punishment.
She then announced a review of the death penalty and opened the doors to the
mystery-shrouded execution chamber to media for the first time, in order to
encourage debate.
(source: Asia One)
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