M40

Morotai Trial M40 was an Australian war crimes trial conducted on Morotai on 15 February 1946. The case concerned the murder of Royal Australian Air Force airman McGuigan and Royal Australian Navy Sick Bay Attendant A. Hill, who were prisoners of war in Japanese custody in North Celebes on 19 June 1945. Lieutenant Katagiri Tameyoshi was charged with aiding and abetting Lieutenant Yunomura Fumiwo in the unlawful killing of the two prisoners.

The court found Lieutenant Katagiri guilty of aiding and abetting the murders and sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment. The case formed part of a series of Australian war crimes trials arising from the deaths of McGuigan and Hill, in which the responsibility of different participants in the killings was examined separately. This page summarises the trial, the charge, the conviction, the sentence imposed and the surviving archival records, including the Judge Advocate General's report.