Japan sentences ‘Twitter killer’ to death – Chronicle



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Death sentence for ‘the murderer of Twitter’, to which the 30-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi confessed – guilty of killing nine young men, abusing them and dismembering their bodies – does not intend to appeal. A bloody story, a horror movie script that shocked Japanese public opinion and refocused on the influence of social media and people’s weaknesses, reflections of online loneliness and lack of contact points . reference.

Nicknamed ‘Hangman’ (executioner), between August and October 2017 Shiraishi attracted eight girls between the ages of 15 and 26 on Twitter, as well as one man, successfully intercepting your anxieties associated with suicidal tendencies. The killer admitted that he acted with the intention of abusing the women and stealing their money, adding that despite the confusion none of them had consented to wanting to die. The point of the dispute during the trial, in fact, had been precisely the desire or not of the individuals to entrust their last wishes to the murderer.. An element used by the defense to request the reduction of the sentence, and later dismantled by the testimony of the murderer himself, who cynically described the resistance of the victims to his attempts at strangulation.

“The crimes that we have witnessed are acts of a mythomaniac with the aim of illegally enriching himself and satisfying his sexual desire,” Judge Yano Naokuni said upon sentencing. “The idea of ​​attracting mentally weak individuals belongs to a clear and at the same time despicable mind.” The verdict also removes any doubt about the defendant’s ability to understand and want, underwent a psychiatric examination for five months prior to indictment in 2018. In his Zama apartment, south of Tokyo, Shirahishi had installed freezers where he kept the amputated body parts after executions. The macabre discovery was made by the police, who followed the traces left on the net by which he turned out to be one of the last victims of the monster.

“We have at least proof that our daughter fought to continue living“said the mother of one of the girls who had just turned 21, urging the government and social services to support people seeking assistance to combat a social phenomenon that – thanks to the prolonged phase of the pandemic – runs the risk of worsening further.

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