Ichihashi begins speaking in detail about Briton's death+

CHIBA, Japan, Dec. 23 Kyodo - Tatsuya Ichihashi, the prime suspect in the 2007 murder of British woman Lindsay Hawker, has begun speaking in detail about his involvement in her death to prosecutors as he faced a formal indictment on the charge of murdering and
raping her Wednesday, his lawyers said.

According to the lawyers, Ichihashi, 30, has admitted to having assaulted the
22-year-old English-language instructor by covering her mouth with adhesive
tape and tying her hands and feet after inviting her to his apartment on the
morning of March 25, 2007.
The lawyers said he made remarks to such effect to prosecutors as well as to
them when they met him.
He also used scissors to cut the hair of Hawker because ''adhesive tape came
off (from the mouth) and it caught Lindsay's hair so I cut plucked hair,'' a
lawyer quoted him as saying. He said she was angry about her hair being cut,
according to the lawyer.
Ichihashi denied he intended to kill her, according to the lawyer. He was
quoted as saying, ''In the early morning of the 26th, Lindsay repeatedly
shouted she wanted to go home. So I chocked her by putting my arm around her
neck from behind. I didn't intend to kill her. I also tried artificial
respiration.''
While Ichihashi has not expressed specific words of apology to Hawker or her
bereaved family, the lawyer said he has shown feelings of remorse and appears
to have felt the weight of his action while at large.
He had remained silent about the case until recently since his arrest Nov. 10.
On Wednesday, the Chiba District Prosecutors Office filed a formal indictment
against him on a charge of murder and rape resulting in death. Yoshinori
Yamada, deputy prosecutor, said they believe ''rape and the act of murder were
linked and he intended to kill her.''
''We have judged that one act is tantamount to two counts of crime,'' Yamada said.
Ichihashi was already indicted Dec. 2 on a charge of abandoning Hawker's body.
He will be subject to a trial by a panel of professional and lay judges.
According to the lawyer, Ichihashi also said he was with Hawker at his
apartment on March 25 to 26, 2007, and that they talked and watched a Martin
Luther King speech on the Internet.
According to the indictment filed Wednesday, Ichihashi punched Hawker in the
face and other parts of the body several times and tied her hands with banding
at his apartment on or around March 25, 2007. He then strangled her to death
and in the meantime, he raped her, the indictment says.
The police found her body at his apartment the following day after they visited
his apartment and Ichihashi fled the scene.
Ichihashi was arrested Nov. 10 in Osaka after being on the run for more than
two and a half years.
==Kyodo
2009-12-23 22:15:31