Student’s family travel to Tokyo for preliminary murder hearing

The family of murdered student Nicola Furlong will attend a preliminary hearing into her murder today in Japan.

A 19-year-old American Christian musician, Richard Hinds, is charged with strangling Wexford woman Ms Furlong, 21, in a Tokyo hotel in May but claims he didn’t mean to kill her.

The DCU student’s father Andrew, her mother Angie, and sister Andrea left for the Japanese capital on Tuesday.

“We’ll be attending the court on Thursday and Friday. It will be an emotional trip for the girls especially as it’s their first trip, and the culture is so different they will get a big culture shock. I am even dreading it,” Mr Furlong said.

“It’s a long journey to go on for a few days. The case is due to be on between 1:10pm and 3pm Thursday and between 11am and 1pm Friday. If they are as efficient over there as they seem to be we may not have to be in the courtroom for long.”

Mr Furlong said he was advised he didn’t have to attend the juvenile court hearing but his gut feeling was that he should go as he felt Nicola would have wanted him to be there.

“It’s something we have to see through to the end.

“We will give victim impact statements; either in writing or on the stand through an interpreter.”

The senior judge is expected to rule at the hearing on whether or not Mr Hinds will be tried as an adult or a juvenile. If tried as an adult, he could face life in jail for murder.

Police have still not released the results of toxicology reports to the media or Ms Furlong’s family. The court date is likely to shed more light on their suspicions that the drinks of Ms Furlong and her friend, also from Wexford, were spiked at a bar in central Tokyo before the assaults. Following this a trial is expected to take place either late this year or early next year.

Trials in Japan can often be lengthy, and are stretched out over a series of hearings in which prosecutors present their case to a panel of judges and defence lawyers.

This means the Furlong family may have to spend some time in Japan especially if the defendant pleads not guilty. However, once criminal cases reach the courtroom, conviction is almost certain.