Qld: Wife admitted to trying to strangle husband, court told

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2001
Qld: Wife admitted to trying to strangle husband, court told

By Suzanne Klotz

BRISBANE, Feb 14 AAP - A Japanese wife accused of cutting up her husband with an electric
saw admitted to trying to strangle him a month before he disappeared, a Supreme Court
jury was told today.

Akiko Kitayama, 54, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her 62-year-old husband,
a retired member of the Yakuza, between April 13 and April 25, 1999, in their Surfers
Paradise unit.

Mr Kitayama's body has never been found.

Japanese nationals, the Kitayamas had been living on the Gold Coast on retirees' visas.

It is alleged Mrs Kitayama cut up her husband in their Surfers Mayfair unit then put
his body parts in bags, which were left in the basement for the garbage collectors.

A saw has never been found, but a warranty card and instruction manual for a Bosch
electric saw were allegedly discovered in the Kitayamas' unit.

In his closing address today, Chris Callaghan, for Kitayama, told the Brisbane jury
she had admitted in a police interview to trying to strangle her husband in the past.

Mr Callaghan said his client would not have done this if she had actually killed her husband.

"The prosecution is asking you to find she is a cold, calculating liar in the interviews,
but a liar would never have admitted that," Mr Callaghan said.

During the police interviews, Mrs Kitayama said she had attempted to strangle her husband
three times, the last attempt in March 1999, just a month before he disappeared.

She told police she felt she was going to strangle him to death and then kill herself
by hanging because she felt sorry for him and there was too much love between them.

Mr Kitayama had been ill since 1996.

In February, 1999, a doctor the couple consulted on Mrs Kitayama's behalf, saw that
Mr Kitayama had marks around his neck.

The doctor has testified that Mr Kitayama told him his wife had tried to strangle him
and the couple laughed and joked about it in front of the doctor.

The doctor said he saw intimacy between the Kitayamas and they appeared to be happy.

Mrs Kitayama allegedly told the doctor she felt sorry for her husband and wanted to
put him out of his misery.

The trial continues before Justice John Muir.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict tomorrow morning.

AAP smk/jhm/mjm/br

KEYWORD: KITAYAMA

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