Turk sentenced to life for killing Japanese tourist in Cappadocia

NEVŞEHİR – Doğan News Agency

CİHAN Photo

A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a female Japanese tourist in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir’s Ürgüp district.

A Nevşehir court sentenced the suspect, identified only as F.U., to life imprisonment on Dec. 10 for torturing and intentionally killing Japanese tourist Mai Kurihara.

F.U. has been separately sentenced to 93 years and nine months in prison on sexual assault and deprivation of liberty charges.

Hoshie Teramatsu, a friend of Kurihara, survived the attack but sustained injuries.

F.U. denied the accusations during the final hearing, even though it was previously reported that he had confessed to the attack. He reportedly told the police that the two women hit his car with their bicycles on Sept. 9 and he then attacked them with a knife. He also confessed that he had sexually assaulted one of the women.

Following the attack, a group of tourists discovered Kurihara’s dead body, along with the injured Teramatsu, and immediately called local gendarmerie and medical teams.