The remorseless killer of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong is to be released from prison after serving just 10 years for her callous murder.
Nicola’s heartbroken mother Angela’s grief has been compounded by knowing that her unrepentant killer Richard Hinds will be freed from a Japanese jail by the end of the year.
Angela Furlong said that the pain of losing her daughter will never go away and that she still “misses her so much”.
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American musician Hinds strangled the 21-year-old Wexford woman in a Tokyo hotel in 2012.
He is currently serving out the remainder of his five to 10-year term in Fuchu Prison in Tokyo.
Tomorrow will be the 10th anniversary of Nicola’s murder and her mother told RTE News that she will go to the cemetery.
She said: “I will visit the grave and I’ll have her little garden that I made on the grave full of flowers for her anniversary. I miss her so, so much.
“I watched my parents pass away within a year of each other and one of the last things I said to both of them was, ‘Tell her I miss her’.
“She knows how much I love her, and I know how much she loved me.
“I want her to know how much she is missed.”
The DCU student was on a study abroad programme in Japan at the time when she met Hinds by chance after a concert.
The Irish woman just happened to ask Hinds and his accomplice James Blackston – who was later jailed for molesting Nicola’s friend in a taxi – for directions.
At Hinds’ murder trial it emerged that Nicola and her friend were unconscious when they emerged from the vehicle.
They were taken into the killer’s hotel in wheelchairs.
Hinds was convicted of strangling Nicola but because he was 19 at the time he was sentenced as a minor as in Japan adulthood legally begins at 20.
He was sentenced to between five and 10 years in jail and could have been released earlier if he had admitted his crime and shown remorse.
But documents seen by RTE Investigates show that Japanese authorities believe that Hinds, who is from Memphis, Tennessee, has only a “moderate” likelihood of rehabilitation back into society.
They also reveal he has failed to express remorse for the murder, which he consistently denied despite overwhelming evidence against him.
The Japanese Department of Justice document also suggests he has failed to satisfactorily take part in programmes aimed at preparing prisoners for return to society.
It is understood he will be released by November 19 this year at the latest.
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