Photo/Illutration Saki Sudo at the Wakayama District Court on Sept. 12 (Drawn by Eri Iwasaki)

WAKAYAMA—The widow of a wealthy businessman who boasted about his playboy lifestyle pleaded not guilty to murdering him by feeding him drugs.

“I neither killed him nor did I make him take stimulant drugs,” Saki Sudo, 28, said after her trial opened at the Wakayama District Court on Sept. 12.

She entered the court wearing a black dress and spoke in a quiet voice through a flu mask.

According to the indictment, Sudo murdered Kosuke Nozaki, 77, by forcing him to take a lethal dose of stimulant drugs at their home on May 24, 2018.

The trial is being held under the citizen judge system.

In their opening statement, a prosecutor stood up, looked toward the lay judges, and said, “The ‘perfect crime’ is the important point.”

The prosecution side said Sudo, before and after her husband’s death, conducted online searches using such keywords as “kill drugs death” and “perfect crime.”

The prosecutors also showed a timeline of the day when Nozaki died. They said only Sudo and Nozaki were present when he took the drugs.

When it was their turn, Sudo’s defense lawyers moved toward the witness stand and talked to the judges. They said prosecutors have gathered no evidence that proves her guilt.

“She is suspicious, so she must be guilty?” one of her lawyers asked the judges. “If this trial concludes based on such a thought, this trial is meaningless. It should be judged by whether the crimes listed in the indictment were actually committed and can be confirmed or not.”

The defense also questioned whether Nozaki was actually murdered.

“From the beginning, is this truly a murder case? Was Sudo able to make him take a lethal dose of drugs? Can prosecutors prove that in this court? Think about it. There should be no gray zone,” the lawyer said.

The defense lawyer also reminded the citizen judges that in criminal trials, a court must rule “not guilty” if there is any doubt about the suspect’s guilt.

Sudo was arrested and indicted about three years after Nozaki died. Prosecutors and defense lawyers have held multiple pretrial conferences to narrow down the legal issues.

Her trial started about three years after her indictment.

A verdict is expected on Dec. 12.

Nozaki was born in the former town of Tanabe, now Tanabe city, in Wakayama Prefecture as the fifth son of seven siblings.

He built a fortune through his financial and other businesses.

He attracted the attention of tabloids and TV shows after his autobiography, titled “Don Juan of Kishu,” was published in 2016.

The book described his many sexual escapades and carried the subtitle: “The man who spent 3 billion yen on 4,000 beautiful women.”

His will, written on an A4-sized piece of paper, was found after his death and led to a lawsuit. The will said Nozaki would give all of his fortune to the municipal government of Tanabe city.

His wealth was estimated to be about 1.5 billion yen ($10.5 million) as of 2019.

His bereaved family claimed the will was invalid and sued to have it annulled.

However, the Wakayama District Court rejected the lawsuit in June 2024.

The court said the handwriting on the will was Nozaki’s and noted that he had contributed more than 10 million yen to Tanabe city while he was alive.

Some of the family members appealed the ruling, and the case is continuing.

Sudo is not involved in the lawsuit.

But a Tanabe city official said that even if the will is determined to be valid, Sudo could receive half of Nozaki’s fortune as his legal widow--if she is found not guilty in the criminal trial.

Sudo and Nozaki together submitted their marriage certificate to the Tanabe city office on the morning of Feb. 8, 2018, about three months before Nozaki died.

According to Wakayama prefectural police, the suspect changed her surname from Nozaki to her maiden name Sudo in February 2020.

(This article was written by Shinichi Kawarada and Hideki Ito.)

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