Prosecutors Allege Air Was Injected Through an IV Tube in Shocking Nursing Home Killing
This became the second-longest criminal trial in Japanese history.
The case was the lay-judge trial of 40-year-old former nursing home employee Emi Akama, who was charged with murder and other offenses. The verdict was handed down on July 7 at the Mito District Court in Ibaraki Prefecture.
An astonishing seven months passed between the opening hearing and the verdict. The trial lasted for 54 hearings—the second-highest number on record—and more than 130 witnesses, including doctors and Akama’s former co-workers, took the stand.
“Akama was accused of murdering two elderly residents, a man in his 70s, identified as Mr. A, and a man in his 80s, identified as Mr. B. However, the court reached contrasting conclusions in the two cases. She was found guilty of murdering Mr. A and sentenced to 20 years in prison. In Mr. B’s case, she was acquitted because the court found that there was reasonable doubt as to whether she was the perpetrator.
The primary reason the proceedings took such an unusually long time was that the crimes allegedly took place behind closed doors, leaving very little physical evidence. The testimony given by doctors and the sequence of events were highly technical, and some of the information may have been difficult for the lay judges to fully understand. Throughout the trial, Akama maintained her innocence, insisting, ‘I did not kill anyone,'” said a reporter covering judicial affairs for a national newspaper.
Shortly after Akama’s arrest, “FRIDAY Digital” reported in detail on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the incidents. Here is a look back at the death of Mr. A, the victim in the case that resulted in a conviction, and at Akama’s puzzling behavior.
Resigning without an explanation
“What were you doing?”
One day in July 2020, a co-worker confronted Akama about her suspicious behavior.
According to reports, Akama became flustered. Without offering a clear explanation, she left work before the end of her shift and resigned voluntarily.
On December 8, 2021, the Ibaraki Prefectural Police arrested Akama on suspicion of murdering Mr. A, a resident of the nursing facility where she worked. The incident had occurred shortly after noon on July 6 of the previous year.
Although Mr. A had not been suffering from any major health problems, his condition suddenly deteriorated, and he was pronounced dead after being transported to a hospital.
“At the time, Mr. A was lying in his bed in a four-person room. Akama was suspected of using an empty syringe to inject a large amount of air into Mr. A’s vein through an intravenous tube attached to his leg. A co-worker witnessed the unusual behavior.
When the co-worker questioned her, Akama apparently realized she was in trouble and immediately resigned. The facility demanded an explanation, but it was unable to obtain a satisfactory answer and contacted the police instead. Investigators then interviewed staff members and personnel at the hospital to which Mr. A had been taken, eventually leading to Akama’s arrest,” a reporter from the social affairs section of a national newspaper explained.
Akama had obtained her nursing license about 15 years before the incident and had worked as a nurse at hospitals in Saitama and Tochigi prefectures. However, at the facility where the incident occurred, she was employed as a care worker rather than as a nurse and was therefore not authorized to handle intravenous drips or syringes.
“Akama began working at the facility in the spring of 2020. She was cheerful and friendly, and her co-workers thought highly of her. We also heard that she used to wake up early every morning to prepare lunch boxes for her husband, whom she had married the previous November,” the reporter added.
Frequent problems, including missing cash
Despite her good reputation, Akama reportedly had numerous conflicts with relatives.
“At first, she apparently lived with the parents of the man she married. However, problems repeatedly arose, including cash disappearing from her in-laws’ wallets. Family relations deteriorated, and from around the summer of 2021, she began living separately from them,” another reporter from a national newspaper said.
What could her motive have been?
Taihei Ogawa, a crime journalist and former detective with the Kanagawa Prefectural Police, offered his analysis.
“The defendant is a licensed nurse. She should have known what the consequences of injecting a large amount of air would be. This was probably not a simple prank. I believe there was a clear intent to kill. Two possible motives come to mind. One is a personal grudge against the victim. The other is deep dissatisfaction with the facility itself, such as issues related to salary or working conditions.
Of course, dissatisfaction can never justify murder. In this case, the crime was committed in what was essentially a locked-room environment, making it difficult to obtain direct evidence. Regarding the case involving Mr. A, prosecutors likely built their case on circumstantial evidence and persuaded the lay judges that no one other than the defendant could have committed the crime.”
Following the ruling that found Akama guilty in one case and not guilty in the other, her defense team announced its intention to appeal, saying that it was half satisfied and half dissatisfied with the verdict.
PHOTO： Shinji Hasuo