Chinese man sentenced to death for killing landlord, wife in Tokyo

TOKYO — The Tokyo District Court sentenced a 29-year-old Chinese man to death Monday for killing and robbing his landlord and the landlord's wife in Tokyo in 2002. Xie Yidi, a Chinese national, had told the court he accidentally stabbed the couple — Isamu Hayakawa, 64, and Yoko Hayakawa, 57 — and denied he intended to kill them.

According to the prosecution's closing argument, Xie broke into the Hayakawas' Shinagawa Ward home sometime between midnight Aug 30, 2002, and 2 a.m. the next day, stabbed them to death and robbed them of jewelry and around 47,000 yen in cash. Hayakawa, Xie's landlord, owned a noodle-making shop.