Gen Sekine (left) and Hiroko Kazama

Gen Sekine, 63, was convicted of fatally poisoning the four victims, destroying their bodies and disposing of the remains. His former wife, Hiroko Kazama, 48, who owned a pet shop, was sentenced to hang for playing a role in three of the slayings.

In March 2001, the then Urawa District Court sentenced the pair to death. Both Sekine and Kazama appealed the verdict.

The pair were convicted of murdering Akio Kawasaki, 39, a customer of Kazama's pet shop, in April 1993. Kawasaki had been in a money dispute with the couple over the purchase of a dog.

In July the same year, the couple killed Yasunobu Endo, an underworld boss, and his driver after Endo began to suspect the pair had killed Kawasaki and had started blackmailing them, the court said.

The following month, Sekine fatally poisoned a housewife, another customer with whom he was having problems over the sale of a dog.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 16, 2005
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