BBC News
June 29, 2021
A convicted serial killer in Japan, dubbed the Black Widow, has lost her final appeal to avoid execution.
Chisako Kakehi, 74, killed three of her partners, including her husband, and attempted to murder a fourth man. Kakehi pocketed millions in inheritance and insurance payouts after poisoning her victims with cyanide.
Her lawyers appealed the 2017 sentence, arguing that she suffers from dementia and does not understand the legal proceedings. But Japan’s Supreme Court rejected the appeal, clearing the way for her death sentence to be finalised.
Kakehi became known in Japanese media as the Black Widow, after the female spider which kills its mates after sex.