TOKYO: A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing and dismembering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media, in a case that shocked the country.
The Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court is located Takahiro shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer, “guilty of killing, dismembering and storing the bodies of the victims in his apartment in Zama, near Tokyo.
Shiraishi, 30, pleaded guilty and said he would not appeal his death sentence.
Police arrested Shiraishi in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight women and one man in cold storage boxes in his apartment.
Investigators said Shiraishi reached out to the victims via Twitter and offered to help them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the women, including teenagers, after raping them, and also killed the boyfriend of one of the women to silence him, investigators said.
On Twitter, Shiraishi used the name “Hangman”, promising to help his victims die and inviting them to his apartment.
Although his defense attorneys argued that he aided the victims’ suicidal wishes, Shiraishi later said that he killed them without their consent.
In the ruling, the presiding judge Naokuni yano He said none of the victims agreed to be killed and that Shiraishi was fully responsible for their deaths, according to media reports.
He said the crime was extremely heinous and had caused fear and concern in a society where social media has become an indispensable part of everyday life, NHK public television reported.
Japan’s suicide rate is among the highest in the world. After a recent decline, the number has risen this year as people were affected by the effects of the pandemic.
Japan’s crime rate is relatively low, but it has recently experienced some high-profile killings. In July 2016, a former employee of a home for the disabled allegedly killed 19 residents and injured more than 20 more.
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