A High Court trial has resulted in the sentencing of a former manga editor who was involved in the production of Attack on Titan for the murder of his wife.
In 2017, Park Jung-Hyun was arrested following the discovery of his wife, Kanako’s deceased body at their shared residence in Bunkyo City, Japan, on August 9, 2016.
Despite Park’s claims of innocence and the defense’s assertion that Kanako “committed suicide”, the official ruling from the Tokyo High Court ultimately determined that the Kodansha editor had strangled his wife to death.
The ruling judge deemed his testimony as “unrealistic”and formally sentenced him to 11 years in prison for the “malicious”murder, according to reports from the trial.
Former Attack on Titan manga editor was sentenced to 11 years in prison for murdering his wife pic.twitter.com/nDeSKclHyS
— dexerto (@dexerto) July 22, 2024
The emergency responders initially discovered Kanako lying face-up at the bottom of a staircase. Despite being transported to the hospital, she was pronounced dead an hour later.
During questioning, Park initially stated that his wife had “fallen down the stairs,”but later altered his statement when an autopsy revealed that her death was caused by suffocation from pressure applied to her neck.
He then proceeded to claim that Kanako had hanged herself using his jacket on the staircase railing, attributing the altered story to his reluctance to tell “his children that [their mother] had taken her own life.”
When questioned about his testimony in court, Park provided an explanation for the discrepancies in his story by claiming that his wife had been behaving violently before taking her own life. He maintained that the bloodstains discovered in the bedroom were a result of him having to restrain Kanako, who he alleged had a knife.
Despite later claiming to have heard a noise outside the room and finding his wife’s body, the prosecution argued that Park had a strong intent to murder his wife and sought a 15-year sentence.
After the July 18 ruling, the judge concurred that Park’s explanation was not believable, remarking, “The sequence of events, with the wife losing consciousness, making noise, and then taking her own life, seems too abrupt and implausible.”
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