Ex-girlfriend sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mito nail artist murder case

On the 30th, the Mito District Court handed down a verdict in the jury trial of Takumi Ouchi (29), his ex-boyfriend, who was charged with murder and violation of the stalking control law in the murder of nail artist Haruka Komatsumoto (then (31)) in an apartment in Mito City in late 2025. Presiding Judge Sadahiro Ariga sentenced him to 20 years in prison (21 years in prison) and criticized him, saying, ``His motivation for wanting to reset his life to the way it was before they met is selfish.''

Presiding Judge Ariga pointed out that since there were more than 40 injuries to the head and other areas, ``the manner of the attack was persistent and gruesome, based on a very strong murderous intent.'' The suspect was also found to have planned the attack, as he misused a loss prevention tag that identifies location information and prepared the murder weapon, a hammer. ``The regret of the victim, who was forced to end her life due to a sudden and senseless act of violence even though she was pregnant, is immeasurable.''

``Their motive was nothing short of selfish, as they were unable to accept the breakup and grew frustrated and angry, wanting to go back to the time they met and reset their lives, which led them to consider murdering her.''

On the other hand, we took into consideration the fact that he had expressed some remorse.

According to the ruling, Ouchi hit Komatsumoto multiple times in the head with a hammer and stabbed her in the neck with a kitchen knife, killing her on the evening of December 31, 2015, at her apartment in Kakuraimachi, Mito City. Starting on the 28th, he wandered around his home every day and attached anti-lost tags to the backs of car license plates without permission.