Prosecutors in Tachikawa, Tokyo, have decided to send a 19-year-old male suspect, arrested over the murder of a 31-year-old sex worker at a hotel, to be tried in a family court.
The decision comes after the suspect, who cannot be named because he is a minor, completed a three-month psychiatric evaluation to determine if he could be held criminally responsible for his actions, Sankei Shimbun reported.
According to police, the suspect checked into the hotel at 3:30 p.m. on June 1, shortly before the woman, Michi Mamoriya, arrived at 3:45 p.m. It is believed she and the suspect got into an argument because she used the room phone to call her male companion and asked him to come and help her. After that, the suspect stabbed Mamoriya around 70 times, police said.
When her 25-year-old companion arrived, he knocked on the door, then went into the room where he also was attacked. The suspect fled from the hotel, leaving a blood-stained knife in the hotel corridor. The male victim was able to call 119.
The suspect was arrested in Akiruno, Tokyo, on June 2. He was also charged with the attempted murder of Mamoriya’s male colleague.
Video footage, taken inside the hotel room before the killing, was retrieved from the suspect's smartphone. In the footage, Mamoriya warns the suspect not to film anything. The suspect then complies with her request, and the footage stops.
After his arrest, the suspect was quoted by police as saying he pretended to be a client when he arranged the meeting. He said he became “interested in killing someone” after watching a film of people being murdered on the internet. He also told police that “the sex industry is not helping with the declining birthrate and aging population” in Japan.
© Japan Today
38 Comments
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Good
Another 'youth'. Good grief.
commanteer
A complete psychopath, virtually guaranteed to kill again after he is released in a couple years.
snowymountainhell
Again, ”Youth”. - Remorseless. Calculated. Premeditated. Gallows. -
Set a precedent and try him as an adult. Challenge Japan’s archaic laws and start getting this trash out of society and behind bars.
“
snowymountainhell
Sociopathic - He blames the failures of Japanese society and tries to justify his actions:
snowymountainhell
“Family Court” means he will be coming for one of your family members, next. - “Good morning, Japan”. Time to wake up?
purple_depressed_bacon
Does J-gov not realize how ridiculous it sounds to label this sociopath a "minor" when he a) enlisted the services of a sex worker and b) stabbed aforementioned sex worker 70 times before attacking her coworker? In what sane, logical world would someone classify this PoS a "minor"?? Oh wait...Japan.
MarkX
This is one issue I would like to see the government talk seriously about. Lowering the age of adulthood to 18 for these kind of crimes. If 18 year old's can now vote, join the SDF, drive, then they can be tried as adults. No more of this mollycoddling these criminals!
151E
You can enlist in the JSDF at 18, but this POS at 19 is considered a minor and therefore somehow less culpable for pre-meditated murder?!? Would this have been sent to family court if the victim had not been a sex worker?
Meiyouwenti
The case would have been sent to a family court if the victim hadn’t been a sex worker. It’s completely irrelevant. Psychos like this are too dangerous to walk the streets again. They should be kept away from society for life.
smithinjapan
Good old Japanese justice. If he's tried as a minor and simply sent to a reformatory, he'll be out in less than a year to "try and kill someone" again. I mean, he could vote as of 18 years old, but he's still a child (which means that literally children can vote in Japan) and cannot be culpable for crimes.
dan
This psychopath needs locking up in a secure facility and must never see the light of day again.
It is beyond belief that he will be tried as a minor!
A disgrace of a justice system! smh
shogun36
who payed for that bill? Tax payers? 3 months for what?
so he wanted to kill someone, for stupid reasons.
and he contradicts him self by saying he wants more births?
lock this fool up for life
NOMINATION
Best would be for him to be a -1 for Japan's population with a mind like that.
Gaijinjland
Murder is murder, prostitute or not. 19 year old minor. Jeez. They've tried 15 yo's in the US if the crime is viscous enough. Like that documentary Making of a Murderer. Get with the times Japan!
starpunk
So why did this oaf patronize this 'industry' in the first place? He knew exactly what he was doing and he had murder on his mind. And that's a lame excuse.
He needs jailing for life, 'minor' or not. He's old enough to know right from wrong.
Garthgoyle
He deserves life in prison . Sadly, he's still a "minor." "Unable to tell right from wrong." And will be walking walking among us in a few years and no one will know what he did because at the time the crime, he was a "minor."
n1k1
Yikes !
Ingvar
A very sick person no doubt but insofar as the last sentence, he was correct.
Jim
As much as I hate the Taliban I must say that people like this offender need to be held accountable and served the Taliban justice…period! Family court in Japan probably means he will simply be released in 5-7 years at most and kill or injure another innocent person! We have to eradicate these types of people but the human rights activist will fight tooth and nail to protect them!
spinningplates
When you murder someone and admit 'I was interested in killing someone', and there is complete clarity that you set a trap and totally intended the victim to die...there is no need to waste resources or time finding out what makes this defective unit tick, this is pretty much exclusively when the death penalty should be imposed.
ableko45
Japan's judicial system needs reform
Mickelicious
Stabbed her 70 times. This is not someone you want to release ever.
Politik Kills
This waste of breath can vote since 18, therefore, he is no longer a minor. Wake up Japan.
Johansawada
RIP to the lady… other lunatics will read this news and realise how light the punishment is to kill someone… is this what the govt wants?
Zaphod
Alas this guy will get away with a slap on the wrist because of his age.
PepperLunch
Well he wont be contributing to the birth rate he is so concerned about anytime soon
fulaan
hello wakey,wakey this is the real world you're living in. normal people dont go around killing people after watching something on the internet.
Brian Wheway
Stabbing some one once is bad enough, but this is a frezid attack, stabbing some one 70 times! this guy is not running on all four cylinders, there is something not working inside his tiny mind, jeees, the poor woman. There is NO way this guy should be let out of any institution, except in a wooden box.
100 CPM
pudus
"He also told police that “the sex industry is not helping with the declining birthrate and aging population” in Japan."
As always; Resorts to Twisted, Cynical Logic as what this fool believes for his solution.
Richard Gallagher
Anyone citing the U.S. judicial system as an example, has not a clue.
The age of majority in the use was 21. It changed in 1971.
In April of 2022, the age of majority in Japan will be 18. Except as regards the Juvenile Act.
Under current law, if a teen aged 18 or 19 intentionally kills someone, as a general rule, they will be subject to the same criminal trial as someone 20 or older. A current amendment bill intends to make this apply to other crimes such as robbery, rape and arson.
Even under current law, there are stricter rules for those aged 18 and 19 -- who can be sentenced to death -- than for those aged 17 and younger. Every time a huge incident has taken place, the laws have been revised.
A unique characteristic of the Juvenile Act is that all cases are heard in family courts. Family court investigators and other experts meet with the minors in question and inquire about their family environments and early development histories. Many minors have been abused. Taking such factors into consideration, the judge hands down disciplinary action, considering what effects it will have on the minor's rehabilitation process.
This system has had a certain level of efficacy in preventing recidivism. Former judges and those who have been in juvenile correctional institutions had voiced objections to the lowering of the maximum age of those covered by the Juvenile Act.
Strangerland
This is as stupid as people who say that gay marriage will somehow affect the birthrate. In both cases, only a moron would think that the sex these people are having is somehow resulting in a reduction of baby-producing sex. If fools like this guy aren't having sex with prostitutes, they aren't having any sex. It's not like they'd somehow suddenly be pumping out babies.
starpunk
Excuses, excuses. This jerk is just making up the dumbest excuses for his incel behavior. He's a murderer and a LOSER. Simple as that.
ReynardFox
He picked a sex worker because too many people in society consider sex workers to be less than human. This man needs to be severely punished and the sex industry needs to be destigmatized. Sex work is real work. Period.
Zaphod
ReynardFox
It is not particularly stigmatized in Japan, you are barking up the wrong tree here. Sounds more like he arraged this because it seemed like an easy kill,,,, alone in a room, no one to interfere.
starpunk
Sex work is a disgraceful way to be. It can lead to diseases and other problems. And what about when they get too old for it? And many teens who are in it don't really want to be in it.
Zaphod
starpunk
That is your opinion. You are free to have that. Fact is however, that sex work is as old as humankind and will not go away. Fact is also there is less stigmatization about it in Japanese culture than in many others.
Michael Machida
How did he stab her 70 times? I cannot do anything 70 times.