- Agha defies England as Pakistan post 515-8 in first Test
- September second-warmest on record: EU climate monitor
- Pastor wanted by US for sex trafficking to run for Philippine senate
- Mozambican writer Mia Couto dreams future leaders set an 'example'
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case cleared in separate sex crimes trial
- Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Bangladesh's Yunus says no elections before reforms
- England strike twice as Pakistan reach 397-6 at lunch in first Test
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote
- N. Korean soldiers 'highly likely' killed in Ukraine: Seoul
- 'Appeals Centre' to referee EU social media disputes
- US Supreme Court to hear 'ghost guns' regulation case
- 'Small' oil leaks detected in Samoa after NZ navy shipwreck
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- At Istanbul church, blessed spring offers hope to Christians and Muslims
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- Myanmar to send rep to regional summit for first time in three years
- Prabowo set to lead bolder Indonesia on world stage
- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- Shanghai stocks pare early surge on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
- Deal on climate aid hangs in balance at UN COP29 summit
- Royals hit back against Yankees, Tigers maul Guardians
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 60.52 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.15% | 6.87 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
French court jails Chilean for 2016 murder of Japanese ex-girlfriend
A French court on Tuesday sentenced a Chilean man to 28 years in jail for murdering his Japanese ex-girlfriend in 2016 in eastern France, after a high-profile investigation spanning three continents.
The jury at the court in Besancon convicted Nicolas Zepeda, 31, of murdering Narumi Kurosaki, then aged 21, in December 2016. Prosecutors had called for a life sentence.
Kurosaki, a brilliant scholarship student, arrived in the eastern city in the summer of 2016 to learn French. She disappeared on December 4.
Zepeda, with whom she had broken up a year before, was the last person to see her alive.
As the verdict was read out after four hours of jury deliberations, Zepeda remained motionless, looking dejected.
Sitting opposite, Narumi Kurosaki's mother Taeko Kurosaki watched him, her head tilted slightly to the side, handkerchief in hand and still holding the photo of her daughter she had clutched since the start of the trial late last month.
"It's a huge relief for the family," said Sylvie Galley, the lawyer for Kurosaki's family.
"They will leave today with a lot of pain and suffering... but also with the feeling that this pain was heard," she told reporters.
Earlier, Zepeda, who proclaimed his innocence throughout the trial, again denied murdering Kurosaki.
"I am not Narumi's killer," Zepeda told the court before the six members of the jury and three judges retired to consider their verdict.
"I am not who I would like to be but I am not a killer and I am not the killer of Narumi," he added, speaking in French for the first time in the trial.
- 'Five years of suffering' -
Prosecutors alleged that Zepeda was unable to deal with the couple's breakup, coming to Besancon to kill Kurosaki in her student dorm room before dumping the body in the forests of the rugged Jura region.
The Chilean has admitted spending the night with Kurosaki in December, claiming he ran into her by chance while travelling through France.
But several witnesses reported hearing "screams of terror" and thuds "as if someone was striking someone else" -- though none called the police at the time.
But so far no trace has been found of Kurosaki's remains.
It was more than a week later, on December 13, that a university administrator reported her missing, at which point Zepeda had already left for Chile after spending several days with a cousin in Spain.
Zepeda turned himself in to Chilean police and said Kurosaki had been alive when he left her after spending the night together.
No sign of blood or a struggle was found in Kurosaki's student room, and all her belongings were still there apart from a suitcase and a blanket.
Zepeda quickly became the prime suspect after he was found to have gone out of his way via a forest, and to have bought matches and a container of flammable liquid.
Some of Kurosaki's friends received strange messages in the following days from her social networking accounts, which police believe were sent by Zepeda.
He was extradited from his country to France in 2020.
In her testimony last week, Taeko Kurosaki called Zepeda a "liar" and said that "this demon cannot remain free."
"She expressed five years of suffering during her testimony in court," Galley said.
L.Mason--AMWN