Photo/Illutration Ayumi Kuboki during her murder trial at the Yokohama District Court (Illustration by Kageyoshi Koyanagi)

YOKOHAMA—A court on Nov. 9 handed a life sentence to a former nurse who said she killed three elderly patients with an antiseptic solution to avoid possible criticism from their family members.

Ayumi Kuboki, 34, was convicted of murdering the three patients in 2016 at what was then Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama by poisoning them through their IV drips.

Prosecutors had sought the death sentence for Kuboki, but the Yokohama District Court sided with defense lawyers who asked for a reduced sentence because she was in a diminished psychological capacity when she killed the three.

Kuboki’s mental state was the major focus of the trial.

A psychological evaluation conducted before Kuboki was indicted on murder charges found that she had autism spectrum disorder.

But prosecutors argued that while the ASD may have influenced Kuboki’s motive for the killings, they said it had very little effect in her carrying out of the crimes, and that she was mentally competent to take responsibility for her actions.

The court agreed with prosecutors about Kuboki’s mental competence. It also said the crime was “egregious” because Kuboki used her knowledge and position as a nurse in planning the deaths.

However, Presiding Judge Kazunori Karei said there were circumstances beyond the control of the defendant that contributed to the forming of the motive, and that had to be taken under consideration.

Those circumstances led the “court to hesitate about handing down the death sentence.”

Kuboki admitted to mixing the antiseptic solution into the IV drips of the patients.

During the trial, she said she wanted to avoid having to deal with family members of patients because of a frightening experience she had at a previous workplace. There, she said, family members of an elderly patient scolded her for her slow treatment of the patient.

Kuboki said she used the antiseptic solution so the patients would die when she was not on duty, thereby reducing the risk of being criticized by their family members.

After reading the verdict, Karei told Kuboki, “The conclusion of this court is that we want you to spend the rest of your life atoning for your crime.”

Kuboki responded, “Yes.”

In her final statement in court, Kuboki asked for the death sentence so that she could atone for her crime of taking valuable lives due to her selfish motives.

According to the indictment, Kuboki mixed antiseptic solution into the IV drips between Sept. 15 and 19 in 2016 to kill Asae Okitsu, 78, Sozo Nishikawa, 88, and Nobuo Yamaki, 88.

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