Asahikawa Court imposes 27 years in prison on Riko Uchida for student murder and acts of manslaughter
An image shows the courtroom of the Asahikawa District Court, the scene of the reading of Riko Uchida’s sentence, which took place at 2:50 pm on June 22 in the city. The verdict was handed down in a trial attended by a lay judge.
On June 22, Riko Uchida, 23 years old and unemployed, was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Asahikawa District Court. The maximum sentence, requested by the prosecution, is the result of serious charges, including murder, indecent assault resulting in death and false imprisonment. The case involves the death of a high school student from the city of Rumoi, then 17 years old, who was allegedly pushed from a suspension bridge into a river in Asahikawa in 2024.
Judge Yuka Tanaka highlighted the “cruel and despicable” nature of the crime, stating that the victim’s dignity was completely disrespected. Although the exact circumstances of the fall into the river were not determined, the court considered the continued threats and pressure exerted by Uchida on the young woman as “acts of homicide”, a crucial point for the conviction. This judicial understanding emphasizes that inducing death through psychological coercion and repeated threats can be legally equated with the act of directly taking a life, establishing a precedent for crimes where the intention is not physical evidence, but rather coercive influence.
