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TOKO: A Japanese man dubbed the “Twitter killer” for luring his victims on social media admitted in court on Wednesday (September 30) of killing 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 is accused of using Twitter to contact victims between the ages of 15 and 26 who spoke online about committing suicide, telling them that it could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them.
His lawyers want the charges against him reduced to “murder with consent”, which carries a prison term of between six months and seven years.
Shiraishi was detained three years ago by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had reportedly tweeted about wanting to take her own life.
After her disappearance, her brother apparently hacked into 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 corpses, with up to 240 bone parts hidden in coolers and tool boxes, were doused with kitty litter in an attempt to hide the evidence.
More than 600 people lined 13 seats in the public gallery to watch Wednesday’s first hearing, NHK said.
If convicted of murder, Shiraishi faces the death penalty, which is executed by hanging in Japan.
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.
