A Japanese court on Friday handed a life sentence to a local man for last year’s murder of a Vietnamese girl in Chiba prefecture.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Yasumasa Shibuya, who repeatedly denied involvement in the death of nine-year-old Vietnamese national Le Thi Nhat Linh, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday, citing Japan’s Kyodo news agency.

The girl’s father Le Anh Hao had also requested the death penalty for the 47-year-old Japanese.

Linh, who relocated to Japan with her parents, was a third-grade student at Mutsumi Daini Elementary School in Matsudo, Chiba.

She was reported missing on March 24, 2017 and was found dead near a drainage ditch in the city of Abiko two days later.

Police arrested Shibuya, former head of a parents' group at Mutsumi Daini, on April 14, after Linh’s DNA and hair was found in his car.

He was indicted on suspicion of abducting Linh by his vehicle, and sexually assaulting and strangling her before abandoning her body.

His refusal to confess to the allegations greatly affected pretrial investigation.

Linh’s family last year organized at home and abroad to appeal to the Chiba court to hand down the death penalty to Shibuya.

The appeal attracted widespread public attention in Vietnam and overseas to the case.