The father of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl allegedly killed by a male neighbor near Tokyo in 2017 demanded capital punishment at a court hearing on Friday.

Le Anh Hao, the 35-year-old father of Le Thi Nhat Linh, said at the Chiba District Court, "Linh said she wanted to become a bridge between Japan and Vietnam. I cannot forgive the killer."

According to the indictment, Yasumasa Shibuya, the 47-year-old former head of a parents' association at the girl's school, bundled Linh into his car on the morning of March 24, 2017, and sexually assaulted her before strangling her and abandoning her body near a drainage ditch in the city of Abiko, Chiba Prefecture.

Shibuya has pleaded not guilty, saying the prosecutors' claims are fictitious and fabricated. He has denied any involvement in the case.

Hoping that his daughter would connect the two countries, Hao said he picked Nhat and Linh for her name, meaning Japan and shine, respectively.


(Le Anh Hao at a press conference on June 4)

"I was anguished to learn that she was killed in such a cruel manner. I demand the death penalty," he said.

Saying his grief was beyond words, he told the court, "It was so painful. My wife was so worn out that she could not even shed tears."

Hao submitted around 1.16 million signatures he collected online and on the street in support of the death penalty for his daughter's killer to the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office.

The focal point of the case is how and why blood and saliva matching the victim's DNA was found in Shibuya's car and the credibility of the DNA test. Evidence matching Shibuya's DNA was also found on Linh's body.

At a court hearing on Thursday, the defendant said he was preparing to go fishing on the day when Linh went missing. The girl was on her way to school in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, to attend a ceremony marking the end of the academic year.


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