ID :
197379
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 17:28
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/197379
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New evidence warrants prompt retrial for jailed Nepali man: lawyers
TOKYO, July 26 Kyodo - A lawyer for a Nepali man serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of a women in Tokyo called for a prompt retrial Tuesday, stressing that new evidence should prove his innocence.
Hiroshi Kamiyama, who heads the defense counsel for Govinda Prasad Mainali, 44, called for the retrial at a press conference after presenting a DNA analysis certificate and a written opinion to the Tokyo High Court.
The newly conducted DNA analysis has shown that semen found on the murdered woman, an employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co. who was 39 at the time, was not Mainali's.
The DNA detected in the analysis also matched that of male body hair collected at the crime scene, a vacant apartment unit in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
The Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office asked experts to conduct the DNA analysis after Mainali's defense counsel petitioned the high court for it to be conducted afresh.
According to the counsel, the analysis examined two more male body hairs and found the DNA matched the semen. As the victim's DNA was also found on the hairs, it is highly likely she had intercourse with a man other than Mainali at the crime scene, the lawyers said.
The findings should lead to a prompt retrial at the high court, they added.
The high-profile murder case dates back to March 19, 1997, when the body of the woman was discovered in the apartment.
The Tokyo District Court dropped murder-robbery charges against Mainali in April 2004, citing a lack of evidence and saying a third party could have been at the murder site.
In December that year, however, the Tokyo High Court overturned the lower court decision and instead sentenced Mainali to life imprisonment, saying it was difficult to believe that the victim entered the apartment with a third party or she was brought there by a man other than Mainali.
After the Supreme Court upheld the high court decision in October 2003, Mainali's life sentence was finalized.
Mainali pleaded not guilty during the course of the trial and filed an appeal for a retrial at the high court in March 2005.
Hiroshi Kamiyama, who heads the defense counsel for Govinda Prasad Mainali, 44, called for the retrial at a press conference after presenting a DNA analysis certificate and a written opinion to the Tokyo High Court.
The newly conducted DNA analysis has shown that semen found on the murdered woman, an employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co. who was 39 at the time, was not Mainali's.
The DNA detected in the analysis also matched that of male body hair collected at the crime scene, a vacant apartment unit in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
The Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office asked experts to conduct the DNA analysis after Mainali's defense counsel petitioned the high court for it to be conducted afresh.
According to the counsel, the analysis examined two more male body hairs and found the DNA matched the semen. As the victim's DNA was also found on the hairs, it is highly likely she had intercourse with a man other than Mainali at the crime scene, the lawyers said.
The findings should lead to a prompt retrial at the high court, they added.
The high-profile murder case dates back to March 19, 1997, when the body of the woman was discovered in the apartment.
The Tokyo District Court dropped murder-robbery charges against Mainali in April 2004, citing a lack of evidence and saying a third party could have been at the murder site.
In December that year, however, the Tokyo High Court overturned the lower court decision and instead sentenced Mainali to life imprisonment, saying it was difficult to believe that the victim entered the apartment with a third party or she was brought there by a man other than Mainali.
After the Supreme Court upheld the high court decision in October 2003, Mainali's life sentence was finalized.
Mainali pleaded not guilty during the course of the trial and filed an appeal for a retrial at the high court in March 2005.
