A Japanese woman who was nicknamed ‘Black Widow’ for murdering three of her former lovers faces execution by hanging after the country’s Supreme Court rejected her final appeal.
Kanae Kijima having changed her surname to Doi while on death row has long maintained her innocence.
She was handed the death penalty in 2012 for the murders of Takao Terad, 53, Kenzo Ando, 80, and 41-year-old Yoshiyuki Oide, the Japan Times reported.
The 42-year-old still disputes the guilty charges, with her defense team claiming the trio of men took their own lives. Her death sentence was upheld two years after the initial ruling by a Tokyo High Court and again by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Motivated by financial greed, she sought out the men online, all of whom died from carbon monoxide poisoning within a span of eight months in 2009.
According to the 2012 ruling, she burned coal briquettes after drugging her victims with sleeping pills.
Prosecutors, who relied mostly on circumstantial evidence, claimed she murdered the men so she wouldn’t have to pay back money they gave to her.
Prior to Friday’s hearing, Kijima, in a blog she writes from her detention center, wrote: ‘I hope to see you again someday.’ Japan’s death penalty, which is supported by the majority of citizens, is exclusively achieved by hanging and typically takes years to carry out.
