Nara killer's letter of apology rejected by victim's parents

Kaoru Kobayashi, a former newspaper delivery man sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl, has written a letter of apology but the girl's parents refused to accept it, his lawyer said Saturday. "If there really is what is called the world of spirits and I can meet your daughter, I would like to offer an apology from the bottom of my heart," Kobayashi, 37, wrote, according to the lawyer.

The Nara District Court sentenced him to death in September for kidnapping and killing the girl in November 2004. According to the ruling, he took her to his apartment in Nara Prefecture, and killed her after molesting her. He then mutilated her body and dumped it in a gutter on a farm road. Kobayashi tried to send the letter to the parents through a police division dealing with crime victims. But the parents refused to accept it, said the lawyer.