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A Japanese man dubbed the “Twitter killer” who was sentenced to death for the murder of nine people has reportedly said that he will renounce an appeal against the verdict, but that he wants to get married before his death.
On Tuesday, a Tokyo court handed down the death penalty to Takahiro Shiraishi for killing and dismembering nine victims he met on the social media platform.
Shiraishi addressed internet users who had posted comments about taking his own life, telling them that he could help them with their plans and even die alongside them.
While the 30-year-old man admitted to killing and massacring his young victims, all but one of whom were women, his lawyers began proceedings to appeal to a higher court.
But Shiraishi, who has been in detention since his arrest three years ago, told the Mainichi Shimbun that he plans to drop further legal action.
He said he hadn’t been nervous about the verdict because “it was obvious.”
While expressing his willingness to accept the punishment, he expressed his desire to get married.
“Now, I want to meet an ordinary girl,” Shiraishi said.
“I want to get married. I want to find a spouse while I’m in jail.”
His lawyers have argued that he should receive a prison sentence rather than be executed because his victims, aged between 15 and 26, had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media and therefore consented to die.
But a judge dismissed that argument and handed down the death penalty for the 2017 crimes, saying the case had “caused great anxiety in society, because social networks are widely used.” –French Media Agency
