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TOKYO (AFP): A Japanese man dubbed the “Twitter killer” for attracting his victims on social media admitted in court Wednesday to murdering nine people, local media said.
But lawyers for 29-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi argued that the charges should be reduced because the victims, who had expressed suicidal thoughts, gave their consent to be killed.
Shiraishi, who is also accused of dismembering his victims and storing body parts in coolers, did not contest nine murder charges, saying “they are all right,” public broadcaster NHK reported.
He also faces rape charges, according to media reports.
Shiraishi is accused of using Twitter to contact victims between the ages of 15 and 26 who posted online about taking their own lives, telling them it could help them with their plans, or even die alongside them.
If convicted of murder, Shiraishi faces the death penalty, which is executed by hanging in Japan.
But his lawyers want the charges against him reduced to “murder with consent,” which carries a prison term of between six months and seven years.
In an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, Shiraishi said that he disagreed with his lawyers and would tell prosecutors that he had “killed without consent.”
“There were bruises on the back of the heads of the victims. It means that there was no consent and I did it so that they would not resist,” he said in comments posted Wednesday.
Shiraishi was detained three years ago by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to commit suicide.
After her disappearance, her brother apparently gained access to her Twitter account and noticed a suspicious identifier.
Police discovered a ghastly house of horrors behind Shiraishi’s front door on Halloween morning in 2017.
Nine dismembered bodies, with up to 240 bone parts hidden in coolers and tool boxes, had been doused with kitty litter in an attempt to hide the evidence.
Shiraishi told the Mainichi Shimbun that he “did not plan to be caught” and boasted of not being identified until his final murder.
More than 600 people lined 13 seats in the public gallery to watch Wednesday’s first hearing, NHK said.
Japan has the highest suicide rate among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, with more than 20,000 people taking their own lives annually.
However, the suicide rate has been falling since it peaked in 2003.
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