Tokyo, Japan:
A Japanese man dubbed the “Twitter killer” was sentenced to death by a Tokyo court Tuesday for murdering and dismembering nine individuals he met on-line.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, admitted killing and butchering his young victims — all but one particular of whom had been girls — who he met on the social media platform.
His lawyers had argued he need to obtain a prison sentence due to the fact his victims, aged in between 15 and 26, expressed suicidal thoughts on social media and so had consented to death.
But on Tuesday “the death sentence was handed down” to Shiraishi, a court official told AFP.
“None of the nine victims consented to be killed, including silent consent,” the judge mentioned, according to public broadcaster NHK.
“It is extremely grave that the lives of nine young people were taken away. The dignity of the victims was trampled upon,” the judge reportedly added.
NHK mentioned 435 individuals turned up to watch the verdict, even although the court only had 16 seats offered for the public.
Shiraishi utilised Twitter to make contact with customers who posted about taking their personal lives, telling them he could enable them in their plans — or even die alongside them.
The father of one particular 25-year-old victim mentioned in court final month that he “will never forgive Shiraishi even if he dies”, NHK reported at the time.
“Even now, when I see a woman of my daughter’s age, I mistake her for my daughter. This pain will never go away. Give her back to me!” he mentioned.
Japan is one particular of handful of created nations to retain the death penalty, and public help for it remains higher.
Years generally pass in between sentencing and execution, and the final execution was in December 2019, when a Chinese man was hanged for the murder of a household of 4.
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