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Survivors, bereaved family members and staff of a care facility for mentally disabled people on Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of a stabbing rampage which left 19 residents dead and 26 others, including two employees, wounded.
Due to the coronavirus, the memorial service was attended by fewer people this year, Fuji TV reported. Attendees offered prayers and flowers at the site of the former Tsukui Yamayuri En facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. A new facility being constructed at the site is scheduled for completion in 2021.
On July 26, 2016, Satoshi Uematsu, 30, broke into the care facility, where he used to work, in the early hours of the morning and started stabbing residents.
He was convicted and sentenced to death by the Yokohama District Court on March 16 this year. After the verdict, Uematsu said he expected to receive the death penalty and wouldn’t appeal it, but was "not convinced" that he deserved it.
Uematsu had repeatedly said that people who cannot communicate bring “misfortune" and that they should be killed. He also said he believed parents of the severely disabled die sooner than other parents because they get exhausted due to their burden.
© Japan Today/Kyodo
6 Comments
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Jonathan Prin
He has common sense at least and did not use being drunk, drugged or memory loss reasons.
Brian Wheway
"Uematsu had repeatedly said that people who cannot communicate bring “misfortune" and that they should be killed. He also said he believed parents of the severely disabled die sooner than other parents because they get exhausted due to their burden"
some people might argue that your a piece of nasty and violent work, some people think that a prison cell is to good for you, some would say why spend tax payer money on you, and I agree with them, get him gone tomorrow morning.
Hokkaidoboy
Attacking people who can't defend themselves is just... low, very low.
Sana Hamaya
Unfortunately,
Eugenic thought is gradually rampant in present Japanese society again in recent years, Abe Govt's believers hate disabled people.
Yubaru
This is one thing I like about how Japanese deal with death. This was a high profile case, yet even privately there are a lot of simple memorial services, typically held in the home, to remind people of loved one's passing, and keep them "alive" in their hearts.
Unlike "other" countries that just bury the dead, have one service, and the family mourns on it's own.