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Two Japanese men fled from their home country to South Africa, hoping to get away with murder.

But their plan to build a new life in KwaZulu-Natal didn’t go to script in the end.

Tomoyuki Matsui and So Kamiya (above) fled Japan after the abduction, murder, and dismemberment of Shinya Kogawa, 26, in Chiba Prefecture, on September 17, 2003.

Japanese media reported that Kamiya murdered Kogawa at the request of Matsui after Matsui fell out with Kogawa over a business deal.

The suspects dismembered Kogawa’s body, scattering parts in the mountains of Okutama, west of Tokyo.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department found Kogawa’s cut-off right arm in the area in 2003, and Matsui and Kamiya were immediately listed as wanted for murder.

Matsui managed to live scot-free for around 14 years before he committed suicide in Umhlanga, Durban.

This has only recently been confirmed, as the DNA from the body of a previously unidentified Japanese man found hanging in a tree in 2017 has been positively identified as Matsui.

Image: Metropolitan Police Department

The Sunday Times has more:

An inquest docket was registered by police and the body was taken to a state mortuary, where it remained for five months before receiving a pauper’s burial in Umkomaas, on the KZN south coast. In March 2020 pictures of the man were sent to the Japanese embassy in Pretoria.

The images closely resembled Matsui and the right thumb print, believed to have been recorded during the postmortem, was run through Interpol’s system and was positively linked to the fugitive.

These findings have brought an end to the almost 20-year cold case.

KZN police spokesperson Lt-Col Nqobile Gwala was unsure of whether Matsui’s body would be repatriated or not.

As for Kamiya, he was arrested after being extradited to Japan from SA in August 2020.

Image: Metropolitan Police Department

He had reportedly turned himself in at the Japanese Embassy in South Africa, per Asahi Shimbun, saying that he would prefer to go back to Japan as he had run out of money.

He had fallen into financial problems after losing his job thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[sources:sundaytimes&asahishimbun]