'Vicious' Japan shoe poisoner gets 7 years' jail
Published September 20, 2013
AFP
File picture for illustration shows a model wearing shoes on the catwalk at the Leather Japan 2012 Fall 2012 Presentation in New York City on February 13, 2012. A court in Japan Friday jailed a man for slipping corrosive acid into the shoes of a colleague he was stalking, causing her to have the tips of her toes amputated, officials and media reports said. (Getty Images/AFP/File)
TOKYO (AFP) – A court in Japan Friday jailed a man for slipping corrosive acid into the shoes of a colleague he was stalking, causing her to have the tips of her toes amputated, officials and media reports said.
Tatsujiro Fukasawa, 41, was handed a seven-year sentence for assault, a court official confirmed. He poured the acid into the woman's shoes late last year after she turned down his romantic overtures, media reports said.
"This was a vicious crime because he used a chemical that can kill people," said Judge Takafumi Miyamoto of the Shizuoka District Court, Jiji Press news agency said.
Hydrofluoric acid -- which Fukasawa obtained from the laboratory where he and his victim worked -- can result in death if absorbed through skin and into the bloodstream.
The victim went to hospital complaining of pain and developed gangrene in one foot, forcing her to have the ends of her toes amputated, reports said.
