New Caledonia court tries two for Japanese tourist's murder

news.com.au

Two brothers accused of murdering a young Japanese tourist appeared before a New Caledonia court yesterday at the start of an 11-day trial in which nearly 100 witnesses are expected be heard.

The burned and half-naked body of Mika Kusama, 28, was found in May 2002 on a rock next to a beach in the Isle of Pines, a spot in the south of the French Pacific Ocean territory popular with Japanese tourists.

The young woman had been hit repeatedly with a rock and sustained multiple fractures and bruises, and her body covered over with branches and stones.

The two local men, Antoine and Ambrose Kohnu, were taken in for questioning a day after the discovery. But the investigation took more than five years and the trial has already been delayed once, in 2005, due to deficiencies in the case.

The brothers, described at a hearing as potentially dangerous psychopaths, are notorious on the island of 1,900 inhabitants, where they headed a gang known for drunkenness and drug-taking.

They had claimed the rock where Kusama's body was found for their clan, setting up an unauthorised "artists' village" there at the beginning of the 1990s.

Visitors and residents were frequently attacked there, earning the Kohnu brothers several spells in jail, and tourists were advised to stay away.

Ambroise, 49, and Antoine, 42, have always denied any involvement in Kusama's murder, despite the suspicions and a gap in their schedules for the day in question.

One of their lawyers, Marie-Laure Fauche, said it was "extraordinary to have a prosecution for so little irrefutable evidence."

Kusama's parents attended the hearing, surrounded by interpreters.

"It has already been five years and seven months, what I want is for the truth to come out," said her mother.

Printable Version | published Nov 28, 2007

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