Ex-japanese official sentenced for killing son 20 Indians aboard commercial vessel kidnapped by pirates

TOKYO: A Tokyo court sentenced a former senior government official to six years in prison on Monday for fatally stabbing his socially reclusive son with a kitchen knife.

The Tokyo District Court found Hideaki Kumazawa, 76, a former vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, guilty of repeatedly stabbing his son Eiichiro, then 44, in the neck and chest at his home in Tokyo in June. The son died from massive blood loss.

Kumazawa, who immediately called police and admitted to the killing, pleaded guilty to the crime during the trial.

In the closing court session on Friday, Kumazawa said, “It is my duty to pay for the crime and pray for my son so he can pave a peaceful time in his afterlife.” His son had a developmental disorder and was routinely violent toward his mother. He was removed from his parents and lived alone in an apartment until he returned home a week before the killing.

INDIA (New Delhi): Twenty Indians on board a commercial vessel were kidnapped by pirates from the high seas off the western coast of Africa on Sunday and the government has taken up the issue with Nigerian authorities, officials said.

The incident comes 10 days after 18 Indians on board a Hong Kong-flagged vessel were kidnapped by pirates near the Nigerian coast.

“We are concerned by the kidnapping of 20 Indian crew members (as reported by the shipping agency) from the vessel MT Duke in the high seas off the western coast of Africa on December 15,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

He said it was the third such incident in the region this year, affecting Indian nationals.

“Our mission in Abuja has taken up the matter with the Nigerian authorities, as also with the authorities of the neighbouring countries,” Kumar said.