ID :
158125
Tue, 01/25/2011 - 17:43
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https://www.oananews.org//node/158125
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Death penalty sought for man over 2008 Akihabara rampage
TOKYO (KYODO) Prosecutors sought the death penalty Tuesday for a 28-year-old former temporary worker charged over a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district in June 2008 that killed seven people and wounded 10 others.
''There is no room for leniency'' with regard to the murders committed by Tomohiro Kato, the prosecutors said in seeking the death penalty. The Tokyo District Court will hand down its ruling on Kato on March 24 following a final defense plea on Feb. 9.
Kato has admitted to the charges and the trial has been focused on whether he was mentally competent at the time of the incident. His defense counsel has sought leniency, arguing his mental competency was diminished at the time of the incident.
The prosecutors said Kato killed and injured people who were totally innocent and unrelated to him because he wanted to deter people who had harassed him on a mobile phone bulletin board, branding his act ''self-centered.''
''It is difficult to rehabilitate him,'' they said.
The prosecution added that most of the members of the victims' families as well as the injured in the rampage want death for Kato, while noting the Akihabara case had a significant impact on Japanese society.
''Copycat crimes were committed and the Akihabara district had to be changed,'' the prosecution said, referring to rampage cases that ensued in Japan. Most notable among them was a driving rampage by a 42-year-old man at Mazda Motor Corp. plants in June last year, in which one person was killed and 11 others injured.
The Akihabara stabbing rampage was one of the most severe crimes to have occurred in Japan, the prosecutors said.
They also mentioned that Kato was unhappy about his appearance, his lack of success in getting a girlfriend and his insecure employment as other motives for his crime.
Kato has been indicted for running down five pedestrians, three of whom died, with a truck in a vehicle-free pedestrian zone in Chiyoda Ward on June 8, 2008, and fatally stabbing four passers-by with a dagger after getting out of the vehicle.
Eight other people were stabbed, while a policeman was attacked but not injured, according to the indictment.
The pedestrian zone, which is popular with shoppers and tourists for its cluster of shops selling electronics gadgets, ''anime'' and pop culture items, reopened Sunday for the first time since the rampage.
No citizen judges are taking part in the trial because Kato was indicted in October 2008, before the law on the lay judge system took effect.
==Kyodo
2011-01-25 23:41:51
''There is no room for leniency'' with regard to the murders committed by Tomohiro Kato, the prosecutors said in seeking the death penalty. The Tokyo District Court will hand down its ruling on Kato on March 24 following a final defense plea on Feb. 9.
Kato has admitted to the charges and the trial has been focused on whether he was mentally competent at the time of the incident. His defense counsel has sought leniency, arguing his mental competency was diminished at the time of the incident.
The prosecutors said Kato killed and injured people who were totally innocent and unrelated to him because he wanted to deter people who had harassed him on a mobile phone bulletin board, branding his act ''self-centered.''
''It is difficult to rehabilitate him,'' they said.
The prosecution added that most of the members of the victims' families as well as the injured in the rampage want death for Kato, while noting the Akihabara case had a significant impact on Japanese society.
''Copycat crimes were committed and the Akihabara district had to be changed,'' the prosecution said, referring to rampage cases that ensued in Japan. Most notable among them was a driving rampage by a 42-year-old man at Mazda Motor Corp. plants in June last year, in which one person was killed and 11 others injured.
The Akihabara stabbing rampage was one of the most severe crimes to have occurred in Japan, the prosecutors said.
They also mentioned that Kato was unhappy about his appearance, his lack of success in getting a girlfriend and his insecure employment as other motives for his crime.
Kato has been indicted for running down five pedestrians, three of whom died, with a truck in a vehicle-free pedestrian zone in Chiyoda Ward on June 8, 2008, and fatally stabbing four passers-by with a dagger after getting out of the vehicle.
Eight other people were stabbed, while a policeman was attacked but not injured, according to the indictment.
The pedestrian zone, which is popular with shoppers and tourists for its cluster of shops selling electronics gadgets, ''anime'' and pop culture items, reopened Sunday for the first time since the rampage.
No citizen judges are taking part in the trial because Kato was indicted in October 2008, before the law on the lay judge system took effect.
==Kyodo
2011-01-25 23:41:51
