KYOTO (TR) – The Kyoto District Court has handed down a not-guilty verdict to a 59-year-old senior yakuza member accused of gunning down the president of the popular “Gyoza no Ohsho” (Gyoza King) restaurant chain more than a decade ago, reports Nippon News Network (Oct. 16).
Yukio Tanaka, an executive of an affiliate of the notorious Kudo-kai crime syndicate, had been charged with the brazen assassination of Takayuki Ohigashi. On December 19, 2013, the president was blasted four times in the chest and stomach with a handgun outside the company’s Kyoto City headquarters.
The acquittal sparked immediate outrage in the courtroom. Following the judge’s decision, a woman believed to be a family member of the victim screamed at the defendant, “What do you mean not guilty? You killed our precious father!”
Circumstantial evidence
Prosecutors had sought life in prison for the mobster, relying heavily on circumstantial evidence due to a lack of eyewitnesses or security footage capturing the actual shooting.
Key evidence presented by the prosecution included a cigarette butt found near the crime scene and security footage of a person wearing a helmet near the victim’s home.
However, the presiding judge ruled that the prosecution failed to prove Tanaka was the triggerman beyond a reasonable doubt. While the court acknowledged that the cigarette butt belonged to Tanaka, it noted it could not rule out the possibility that a third party had planted it there. Furthermore, the judge dismissed claims that the helmeted figure in the security video could be conclusively identified as the defendant.
Maintained innocence
Throughout the trial, Tanaka vehemently maintained his innocence.
“I am absolutely not the culprit,” Tanaka stated during the proceedings. “As a man who aspires to the yakuza code (ninkyo-do), I can accept a false accusation or two, but I absolutely cannot accept this.”
In June, he further pleaded with the judge, stating that if allowed, he would walk around the courtroom telling every single person present that he was not the killer.
“Extremely disheartened”
Following the verdict, Tanaka—who is currently serving time in prison for a separate shooting incident—released a statement criticizing the prosecution.
“My life changed the moment I was treated as a suspect, and what I lost will never return,” Tanaka said. “Prosecutors are human and make mistakes. I hope they correct this error and pursue the real killer.”
The victim’s bereaved family expressed deep frustration over the ruling.
“We are extremely disheartened by this unexpected verdict,” the family said in a statement. “We have strongly urged the prosecutor’s office to file an appeal.”