5 gang members tried for murder

Five Japanese men charged with telephone fraud and murder appeared in court in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, on Wednesday.

"The defendants tied and beat to death a Japanese man who was also a member of their fraud gang," the public prosecutor said in court.

The defendants, surnamed Sato, Sugahara, Yauchi, Tsumura and Shinoda and ranging in age from 25 to 41, argued that the victim actually died after his head hit a sharp table corner on June 11, 2013, in the house they rented.