NARA -- The younger sister of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man on trial for the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told the Nara District Court on Nov. 19 that she and her brother were "victims" whose family was destroyed by the Unification Church, and that her brother was "in extreme despair."

The sister appeared as a defense witness during the lay judge trial, recounting the ordeal she and her brother endured living with their mother, a follower of the church. Yamagami, 45, also had an older brother one grade ahead. His sister was four grades Yamagami's junior. All three siblings were critical of their mother joining the church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, which made them "second-generation" religious followers. Yamagami's elder brother later died by suicide after suffering from illness, and his sister is among those most familiar with the family's circumstances.

During a hearing on Nov. 18, the sister testified that their mother became a follower while she was in elementary school and "grew indifferent to me." On Nov. 19, she gave her testimony shielded from the gallery, as she had the previous day.

'I couldn't turn her away because she is my mother'

According to the sister, the family fell into financial hardship due to their mother's donations to the church, and the eldest brother became violent. After his hopes of attending college were dashed, he cursed their mother, saying, "It's all because of your donations that things have turned out like this. I can't make my decisions freely." He brandished a kitchen knife and threatened to kill himself by setting himself on fire.

The sister also told her mother she wanted to go to college, but her mother replied, "I've got no money. You deal with it yourself." Conversely, her mother often asked her for money after pouring her own assets into the church. The sister once had to drag her mother along as she clung to her arms.

"She looked desperate. I felt embarrassed, miserable and pained. Even though she actually didn't care about me at all, she talked down to me like a parent. I thought she was no longer my mother, but was a Unification Church follower pretending to be my mom," the sister said. She continued, sobbing in the quiet courtroom, "But I couldn't turn her away because she is my mother."

The sister also spoke about her eldest brother's suicide in 2015. She recalled how Yamagami wailed and stayed by his brother's body after it was returned home, saying, "If you were alive, things could have worked out," and, "It's my fault."

During a recent hearing, their mother admitted she became alienated from Yamagami after her eldest son's suicide. The same was true for the sister.

When a pet cat died in 2016, the sister told Yamagami. He visited her at her home, where she was living alone. That was the last time she remembers seeing him before the 2022 shooting of Abe.

After the sister's testimony revealed how Yamagami began to reject connections with others following his brother's death, the defense attorney asked her to describe the time of the Abe assassination. She reflected, "I thought it was undoubtedly my brother. When I heard that (the assailant) 'had a grudge against a specific group,' I was convinced that it was about the Unification Church."

When asked if she found it strange that the victim was Abe, she answered, "I didn't think it strange. In my mother's room, there was a Unification Church journal with a cover featuring former Prime Minister Abe. My aunt, who is a follower, once told me to vote for a specific Liberal Democratic Party candidate in an election."

'My dearest brother'

Asked if there was any way to prevent the tragedies of her two brothers, the sister told the court in a trembling voice, "I looked for a consultation service in cases where parents joined (a religious group), but found no such service. My mother is an adult and donated her own assets under her own will, so there was no way we, her children, could intervene. Tetsuya was in extreme despair, and committed the crime."

During cross-examination, the prosecution asked about her relationship with her brother. She replied without hesitation, "To me, he was my dearest brother." While Yamagami could hear her voice in the courtroom, he was seen keeping his head down.

Source Link: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251120/p2a/00m/0na/018000c