The man standing trial for sexually assaulting a college friend of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong was sentenced to three years with labour, with the presiding judge Masayuki Yamada saying the assault had been carried out to fulfil a “desire”.

Prosecutors in Tokyo have demanded the maximum possible 10-year jail term for the 19-year-old accused of murdering Irish student Nicola Furlong.

The man accused of strangling Nicola Furlong told prosecutors that he was a “gentleman” who “felt sorry” for the family of the DCU student.

The man accused of strangling Nicola Furlong said the DCU student had demanded “rough sex” and “moaned” when he pressed her neck.

A former girlfriend of the man accused of strangling Nicola Furlong has said the accused, American musician Richard Hinds, was a “sweet” man who “wouldn’t hurt a fly”.

The close friend of Nicola Furlong who was with her on the night of her death broke down in tears as she told a Tokyo court she believed drinks spiked with drugs were the reason the two of them blacked out after drinking with the man accused of strangling Ms Furlong and another man standing trial for assaulting the unidentified Irishwoman last May.

The mother of murdered Irish exchange student has said she is finding some relief by looking directly at the man accused of killing her.

The family of Nicola Furlong came face to face with the student’s alleged killer for the first time yesterday, when the trial of the American musician Richard Hinds began in Tokyo.

A man accused of killing an Irish exchange student in Tokyo has shown no remorse and should be punished severely, Japanese prosecutors said today.

The family of a murdered Irish exchange student will come face-to-face with the man accused of her killing at his trial in Japan today.

The family of a murdered foreign exchange student will today come face-to-face with the man accused of her killing at his trial in Japan.

The family of murdered Irish exchange student Nicola Furlong will tomorrow come face-to-face with the man accused of her killing at his trial in Japan.

The heartbroken family of murdered Irish exchange student Nicola Furlong is making a tense trip to Japan for the trial of the man accused of the killing.

The family of murdered Irishwoman Nicola Furlong said their lives have been on hold since the student was found dead in a Tokyo hotel last year.

Prosecutors in Tokyo have called for a four-year sentence for one of the men implicated in crimes last May against two Irishwomen, one of whom, Nicola Furlong, was found strangled in a Tokyo hotel.

An Irishwoman has given evidence to a Tokyo court about her sexual assault and the rape and killing of exchange student Nicola Furlong earlier this year.

An American hip-hop dancer, being held in Toyko in connection with the death of college student Nicola Furlong, has claimed he wasn’t in the hotel room where she died.

More than a week after she died in a Tokyo hotel room, the family of murdered 21-year-old student Nicola Furlong were able to bring her body home to Wexford yesterday.

Student Nicola Furlong’s body will be flown home from Japan tonight, arriving tomorrow morning at Dublin Airport.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has appealed for space for the families of a woman killed after a concert in Japan and her friend who was also sexually assaulted.

Police in Tokyo investigating the killing of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong have charged two American men with assaulting her friend.