The Hawker family will be given the chance to question Mr Ichihashi at the court's discretion A Japanese man has admitted raping and killing a British teacher whose body was found buried in a bathtub.
Tatsuya Ichihashi, 32, is accused of murdering Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon near Coventry. Her body was found in a sand-filled tub at the defendant's home east of Tokyo in March 2007.
At the opening of his trial Mr Ichihashi admitted raping Miss Hawker and causing her death but said he did not intend to kill her.
The defence said Mr Ichihashi had tried to revive his English teacher after accidentally suffocating her in an attempt to stop her from crying out for help.
'Hoping for justice' Mr Ichihashi told the court: "I did not intend to kill her, but I am responsible for her death."
"I am very sorry for what I did," he added.
Lindsay Ann Hawker's body was found buried in sand in a bathtub in a flat near Tokyo in March 2007 Miss Hawker taught Mr Ichihashi English at a private language school in the city of Chiba.
After her death he published a book in which he confessed to the killing and described how he spent two-and-a-half years on the run and underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance.
He was eventually arrested in the city of Osaka in November 2009.
Miss Hawker's parents, Bill and Julia, are attending the trial at Chiba District Court and under the country's legal system they are entitled to question the defendant but at the discretion of the court.
In a statement read by Mr Hawker when the family left England for the trial, he said: "We're hoping to get justice for our daughter.
"That has always been our only aim."
A verdict is expected before the end of the month.
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