Tokyo road rampage: Japan court docket executes prisoner who killed 7 | World Information

Tokyo road rampage: Japan court docket executes prisoner who killed 7 | World Information [ad_1]

Japan on Tuesday executed a person convicted of killing seven individuals in a truck ramming and stabbing rampage in Tokyo's in style Akihabara electronics district in 2008, the justice ministry mentioned.

Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa mentioned Tomohiro Kato had undertaken "meticulous preparation" for the assault and displayed a "sturdy intent to kill".

"The loss of life sentence on this case was finalised by ample deliberation in court docket," he informed reporters.

"Based mostly on this truth, I accredited the execution after extraordinarily thorough scrutiny."

Kato went on the stabbing spree on June 8, 2008, telling police: "I got here to Akihabara to kill individuals. It did not matter who I might kill."

He was arrested on the spot shortly after the assaults, during which he rammed a rented two-tonne truck right into a crowd of pedestrians earlier than getting out and randomly stabbing individuals.

"It is a very painful case that led to extraordinarily grave penalties and shocked society," Furukawa mentioned Tuesday.

Police mentioned Kato documented his lethal journey to Akihabara on Web bulletin boards, typing messages on a cell phone from behind the wheel of the truck and complaining of his unstable job and his loneliness.

Additionally Learn | Loss of life penalty legitimate, judges can not discover methods to keep away from it, says prime court docket

The son of a banker, Kato grew up in Aomori prefecture in Japan's north, the place he graduated from a prime highschool. He failed his college entrance exams and finally skilled as an auto mechanic, experiences mentioned.

Prosecutors mentioned Kato's self-confidence had plummeted after a girl he had chatted with on-line abruptly stopped emailing him after he despatched her a photograph of himself.

His anger towards most of the people grew when his feedback on an Web bulletin board, together with his plans to go on a killing spree, had been met with no response in any respect, prosecutors mentioned.

- Help for loss of life penalty -

Whereas awaiting trial, Kato wrote to a 56-year-old taxi driver whom he injured within the stabbing spree, expressing his regret.

The victims "had been having fun with their lives, and so they had desires, vibrant futures, heat households, lovers, pals and colleagues," Kato wrote in line with a replica printed within the Shukan Asahi weekly.

And in court docket, he provided regret for the assault.

"Please let me use this event to apologise," he mentioned concerning the bloody rampage that additionally left 10 individuals injured.

After the 2008 rampage, Japan banned possession of double-edged knives with blades longer than 5.5 centimetres (about two inches), punishable by as much as three years in jail or a 500,000 yen advantageous.

The assault was Japan's worst mass killing in seven years and Kato was sentenced to loss of life in 2011, a choice that was upheld by Japan's prime court docket in 2015.

Kato's execution is the primary in Japan this yr and comes after three prisoners had been hanged in December 2021. These executions ended a two-year hiatus and had been the primary below Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration.

Japan is likely one of the few developed international locations to retain the loss of life penalty, and public assist for capital punishment stays excessive regardless of worldwide criticism.

Executions are carried out by hanging, usually lengthy after sentencing. Greater than 100 persons are presently on loss of life row in Japan.

Worldwide advocacy teams have denounced the Japanese system, below which loss of life row inmates can wait for his or her executions for a few years in solitary confinement and are solely informed of their impending loss of life a couple of hours forward of time.

Tuesday's execution comes on the anniversary of one other main stabbing assault -- the 2016 Sagamihara rampage at a disabled care facility, during which 19 individuals had been killed.

Japan additionally carried out the executions of six members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult chargeable for the 1995 sarin assault and different crimes on July 26, 2018.

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