A COURT has sentenced a 70-year-old woman to hang for the deaths of her husband and two other former partners, and the attempted murder of a fourth man.
Kyoto District Court said Chisako Kakehi poisoned the victims with cyanide after becoming the beneficiary of their wills. The deaths occurred between 2007 and 2013.
Kakehi reportedly married at least three times and had three other partners who died, all within a few years of starting relationships with her. The court was told she amassed about £6.6 million in inheritances over 10 years.
The so-called “poison woman” case surfaced when Kakehi was arrested in 2014 over the death of her 75-year-old husband. He had died in December 2013, a month after they married.
Kakehi was later charged with murdering two former boyfriends aged 71 and 75, and trying to kill a fourth man, aged 79.
The court said traces of cyanide, which Kakehi obtained while running a printing plant, were found in all of the victims. It said she gave the men cyanide capsules, saying they were health supplements.
The court dismissed claims that Kakehi had dementia. Her defence also maintained she was innocent, citing insufficient evidence.
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