Japanese murderer of Norwegian in Laos soon to be sentenced

The court hearing of the case against the Japanese man, Ogu Hiroyuki, who in January 2020 caused the death of the Norwegian woman Nerid Ella Hoiness, has already taken place at the  Court of the Laotian capital Vientiane. According to the Court Secretariat, the court hearing took place on 24 October 2022.

Since then, the judges have been evaluating the evidence provided by the public prosecutor and the statement of the accused and are currently deliberating the sentence to be read to the accused when they are ready.

Flipping through the pages of the file on her table, a fifteen centimeter pile of documents held together by a red folder cover, the court officer confirms that announcing the sentence could happen anytime soon since the court hearing took place already 15 months ago. 

In the meantime, the Japanese man Ogu Hiroyuki remains detained in the Nakha Detention Camp north of Vientiane. This is the remand prison where he has been detained since he was arrested on 20 November 2021 after 22 months on the run.

When sentenced, the Japanese will be transferred to Phonthong Prison in Vientiane, where the Laotian prison department detains all foreign prisoners serving prison sentences.

ScandAsia was not allowed to obtain copies of any of the documents in the court file, but the Public Prosecutor of Vientiane confirms that the prosecutor argued in the indictment that the death was a the result of excessive and deliberate violence inflicted by the accused upon the Norwegian woman as detailed by the forensic team.

The Japanese man has explained that her death was accidental following bruises that the Norwegian woman obtained in a fight between the couple in their room in a guesthouse in Vang Vieng  125 km north of the Laotian capital Vientiane. He claimed that she was alive when he fell asleep but when he woke up the next morning she was dead.

Nerid Hoiness’ badly injured body was found on 22 January 2020. At that time the Norwegian had been dead between 5 to 7 days. The day after, on 23 January 2020, the Laotian Police Investigation Department, the Laotian Police Forensic Department and the Laotian Criminal Intelligence Police Department arrived from the capital at the scene and joined forces with the Vientiane Provincial Police Command and the Vang Vieng District Police Command to investigate the crime.

In the early hours of the 19 January 2020, Ogu Hiroyuki is seen in a crucial video evidence carrying the dead body of the Norwegian down the steep stair case of the guesthouse and placing her on his motorcycle before driving away with the corpse. The day before he was seen carrying some bamboo sticks up to their room on the third floor.

Having dumped the corpse in the jungle, he waited one day before checking out on the 20 January 2020.

When Ogu Hiroyuki was arrested on 20 November 2021, the case started moved at a normal speed.  The Supreme People’s Prosecutor’s Office ordered on 10 January 2022 that the case should be prosecuted by the Public Prosecutor of the capital Vientiane. When the case was handed over from the police, the Public Prosecutor started writing the indictment on 22 June 2022 and finished it within 3 months on 22 September 2022. The court in Vientiane accepted the case on 7 October 2022 – and on 24 October, the case was prosecuted in court.

It is not known why the sentencing is taking longer time than usual.