Saitama (Japan): The Saitama District
Court on Tuesday sentenced a 48-year-old man to death for killing a
former top health ministry bureaucrat and his wife and
attempting to kill another in a 2008 stabbing spree that
stunned the nation.
Handing down the death sentence to Takeshi Koizumi as
sought by prosecutors, Presiding Judge Yoshihisa Denda said
the defendant should take full criminal responsibility for his
acts that were "tactical and premeditated in great detail."
"There is no possibility (for Koizumi) to be
rehabilitated and there are no particular reasons to avoid the
death penalty," Denda said.
He rejected the defense team`s request that the court
consider Koizumi`s voluntary surrender to police in
determining a sentence.
During his trial, Koizumi admitted to the charges in
principle, but pleaded not guilty, saying he "killed not
people but demons with evil hearts," in a case that was
initially thought to be an act of vengeance linked to the
health ministry`s sloppy pension record management.
As his motive, Koizumi said he has held a grudge against
the ministry since his junior high school days because he
believed that a health care center had killed his pet dog.
Presiding Judge Denda said he did not see a major leap in
Koizumi`s logic itself that he targeted the de facto head of a
ministry that oversaw the nation`s efforts to prevent rabies,
and acknowledged that the defendant should bear full
responsibility for what he had done.
The defendant appealed the sentence later today.
Koizumi was convicted of fatally stabbing former Vice
Health and Welfare Minister Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his
wife Michiko, 61, at their home in the city of Saitama on Nov.
17, 2008.
He then stabbed and seriously injured Yasuko Yoshihara,
73, the wife of another former vice health and welfare
minister, at their home in Tokyo on Nov. 18 that year,
according to the ruling.
Koizumi`s defense team has argued that he was mentally
incompetent, as he suffered from delusional disorder. They
asked the court to avoid the death penalty and weigh the fact
that he had turned himself in to police when determining a
sentence. The defense`s request for a fresh mental examination
was rejected.
Prosecutors have said that he had no remorse for the
crimes that were "extremely cruel and heinous" and that it is
impossible for him to be rehabilitated.
PTI
