A Japanese court Tuesday sentenced to death a one-time millionairess dubbed the ‘Black Widow’ who tricked elderly lovers into drinking cyanide and pocketed millions in insurance payouts and inheritance.<\/p>\n
Kyoto District Court condemned\u00a0Chisako Kakehi, 70, to the gallows for the murder of three men \u2014 including a husband \u2014 and for the attempted murder of another, ending a high-profile case that has gripped the country.<\/p>\n
Kakehi became notorious after using poison to dispatch a number of elderly men she was involved with, drawing comparisons with the spider that kills its mate after copulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe accused made the victims drink a cyanide compound with a murderous intention in all four cases,\u201d Judge Ayako Nakagawa told the court, according to public broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cases were well prepared in advance. They were cunning and malicious. I have no choice but to impose the ultimate penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nakagawa rejected defence lawyers\u2019 arguments that Kakehi was not criminally liable because she was suffering from dementia.<\/p>\n
More than 560 people queued for 51 seats in the courtroom to witness the outcome of the marathon trial, which lasted 135 days.<\/p>\n
It was the second-longest court case involving a jury since Japan introduced a joint judge-jury system in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Love of money\u2019 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Gray-haired Kakehi, wearing a hearing aid headphone, asked the judge to speak loudly. She showed no emotion when the judge handed down the sentence.<\/p>\n The court said she killed the men after they made her the beneficiary of life assurance policies that reportedly ran into millions of dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the love of money,\u201d the accused poisoned the victims who fully trusted her, the judge said.<\/p>\n Kakehi reportedly amassed one billion yen ($8.8 million) in payouts over 10 years but subsequently lost most of the fortune through unsuccessful financial trading.<\/p>\n She had relationships with many men, mostly elderly or ill, meeting some through dating agencies, where she reportedly stipulated that prospective partners should be wealthy and childless.<\/p>\n Kakehi, also known as \u201cThe Poison Lady\u201d, is said to have stashed some of her cyanide in a plant pot she later threw out.<\/p>\n The poison was found in the body of at least two of the men she was involved with and police reportedly found traces of cyanide in the rubbish at her Kyoto home.<\/p>\n They also found paraphernalia for administering drugs and medical books at an apartment she kept south of Kyoto.<\/p>\n Kakehi initially refused to speak when her trial began in June but later stunned the court by admitting killing her fourth husband in 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cI killed him\u2026 because he gave other women tens of millions of yen but did not give me even a penny,\u201d she told the court, according to Jiji Press.<\/p>\n She had earlier told judges she was ready to hang.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if I were executed tomorrow, I would die smiling,\u201d Kakehi told judges.<\/p>\n After Tuesday\u2019s ruling, her lawyers immediately appealed to a higher court, suggesting the high-profile trial could yet drag on.<\/p>\n Source: SBS.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Send your press release\/articles to:\u00a0<\/em>info@dnlpartners.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0,Follow us on Twitter at\u00a0<\/em>@dnlpartners<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and Facebook at\u00a0<\/em>Facebook.com\/Dnl-partners<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a9 Copyright DNL Legal & Style 2017. <\/em><\/p>\n This piece may only be copied on the condition that DNL Legal & Style is duly acknowledged\u00a0in this manner: \u201cSource: DNL Legal & Style. View the original piece on: (insert Hyperlink)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Japanese court Tuesday sentenced to death a one-time millionairess dubbed the ‘Black Widow’ who tricked elderly lovers into drinking cyanide and pocketed millions in insurance payouts and inheritance. Kyoto District Court condemned\u00a0Chisako Kakehi, 70, to the gallows for the murder of three men \u2014 including a husband \u2014 and for the attempted murder of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-foreign-jurisdiction"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t