Nagoya Avec Murder Case

Nagoya Avec Murder Case (Japanese: 名古屋アベック殺人事件 なごやアベックさつじんじけん[*]) was a bizarre lynching and murder incident in Japan that occurred in February 1988. Together with the Concrete Schoolgirl Murder Case, it was regarded as one of the worst murder cases of the Shōwa period. These two cases came to have a major influence on the later revision of the Juvenile Act. "Avec" is a French word meaning a couple of a man and a woman.

Overview

• Location: Midori Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan (35° 3′ 36.7″ N 136° 57′ 21.93″ E / 35.060194° N 136.9560917° E / 35.060194; 136.9560917)
• Date: February 23 – February 25, 1988
• Perpetrators: Six teenagers, four males and two females
• Principal offender: Shigeo Kojima (19 years old at the time of the crime)
• Deaths (victims): 2

Trial

In June 1989, the Nagoya District Court sentenced the principal offender Kojima to death, and sentenced the other members to life imprisonment, 17 years, and 13 years, in that order of sentence length. The two female members were given indeterminate sentences of 5 to 10 years. On appeal, the first-instance death sentence was overturned and the principal offender was sentenced to life imprisonment.