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A 14-year-old boy who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after slashing a sixth-grade elementary school girl in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, earlier this month, will undergo a psychiatric examination for two months, prosecutors said Friday.
Police said the boy told them Thursday that he felt sorry for the girl over what he had done, Fuji TV reported. They said the student had expressed regret during questioning before, but had never mentioned any words of apology.
The boy said that at the time he just wanted to kill someone and it didn’t matter who. He approached the girl from behind as she was walking home alone from school at around 4:40 p.m. on Nov 12 and slashed her neck with a box cutter. The attack left the girl with a gash 10 centimeters long and one centimeter deep. Her wound was not life threatening.
Police later found several box cutter knives in a bag at the boy’s home.
The Hachinohe branch of the Aomori District Public Prosecutors' Office said the psychiatric evaluation will determine whether the body can be held criminally liable for his actions.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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Chip Star
What I'm about to write is in no way a defense of what this lad did. Please try to keep this in mind if you reply to me.
This is good news because it means the authorities are trying to determine the root cause of the crime instead of simply going after retributive punishment.
sensei258
Or you could look at it this way... he's already learned that expressing regret gets you a lighter sentence if any.
Disillusioned
These kinds of "I just wanted to kill someone" attacks are far too common in Japan. And, the scarily common thing in all these attacks is, they are always against someone who will not fight back. A sad and cowardly scenario.
Ex_Res
This is good news because it means the authorities are trying to determine the root cause of the crime instead of simply going after retributive punishment.
Agreed Chip Star. Buy looking at Japans track record, I dread to imagine what they will do to him.
Michael Machida
I agree. We need to understand his state of mind and what he was feeling and how he operates so that we can deal with this in the classrooms and within the family unit. We need to study and learn from this instead of just placing him in detention. What he did was terrible. But, a product of society?
blue in green
A simple MRI brain scan could be telling.
Learning what you can get away with
is a live and learn process, he's young.
Zaphod
Chip Star;
Your faith in the power of the "authorities" is touching but unrealistic. What are the "authorities" supposed to do? He will get psychological evaliations and some "treatment", and then we are back to the same problem. Nobody can guarantee that he will not do similar things later, and my money is on that he will. And since he is so young, locking him up is out of the question.
juminRhee
Will that leave a scar? Also, I'd love to see the sympathy people are showing here to adult offenders. Its mentality, right? The same people expressing sympathy would probably say execute him or throw away the key if he were 4 years older.
stormcrow
What is the boy's home life like. Does he play violent video games? Are either of his parents abusive? If if wasn't bullying, it seems like the boy's household is a good place to begin the investigation.
Ulf
Age is no excuse for crimes so serious. Send him to children's prison until he turns 18 and then transfer him to adult's prison. If he is mentally unstable, then lock him up in a mental asylum for the same amount of time at least, or longer. He should rot in hell.