Takahiro Shiraishi has been sentenced to death for raping, killing, dismembering, and storing the bodies of nine people in his home in the outskirts of Tokyo. The 30-year-old man who was later dubbed “Twitter Killer” contacted eight Twitter users who posted suicidal thoughts on their accounts. Shiraishi invited them to his apartment, with the promise that he was going to help them fulfill their plans about ending their lives, USA Today reports.
The Japanese court which sentenced Shiraishi to death on Tuesday stated that the defense lawyer’s arguments that Shiraishi had only helped his victims fulfill their wish were wrong. He was found culpable for their deaths, especially after he stated in courts that none of his victims had really wanted to die in his hands.
In October 2017, local policemen raided Shiraishi’s apartment in Zama in connection to the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman. A search of his apartment turned up several containers, including cooler boxes where he had stored the remains of his victims. According to the police, Shiraishi killed eight women and a male which later turned out to be the boyfriend of one of Shiraishi’s victims.
The police found the heads of the victims as well as bare-bones without flesh. One of the victims was just 15 years old when she hinted, in her tweets, that she wished to commit suicide. The 30-year-old “Twitter Killer” who pleaded guilty to the charges, invited her to his apartment, raped her, and killed her just like he did to the seven other females he killed. According to his lawyers, Shiraishi does not wish to appeal the sentence, CNN writes.
Judge Naokuni Yano who presided over Shiraishi’s case stated that the 30-year-old had to be held responsible for his premeditated crimes. The judge described the crimes as “heinous” especially in this era where people are almost inseparable from their social media platforms. Shiraishi, whose Twitter username loosely means “Hangman”, will be killed by hanging, according to Japanese laws.
Suicides are quite common in Japan, with the country ranking amongst countries with the most number of suicides and attempted suicides per year. The suicide figures in Japan recently declined but increased as people had to stay home during the pandemic. The country has also had some widely publicized killings, including one that occurred in 2016. An ex-worker of a disabled center had gone on the warpath, killing 19 residents of his former workplace and injuring 20 others.
Source: usatoday.com
