A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for stabbing to death three of his family and seriously injuring another at their home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in April last year.
The Hamamatsu branch of the Shizuoka District Court on Friday handed the sentence down against Yoshitaka Ikeya, who was convicted of killing his mother Minako, 62, his grandmother Mari, 83, and his sister Eri, 32, with a survival knife. He also stabbed his father Hisakatsu, 62, who survived.
The court heard that at around 3 a.m. on April 21, 2016, Hisakatsu called 119, and said that his son was on a stabbing rampage at their home in Kita Ward, Fuji TV reported. When police arrived at the scene, they found the three women dead and Hisakatsu bleeding from his abdomen.
Police launched a search for Yoshitaka and managed to capture him at around 7 a.m. in front of a convenience store approximately four kilometers away from the crime scene. He had left his home in his car, which was later found crashed on a road within Kita Ward. He told police he kept going on foot until he was caught at the convenience store.
Ikeya's defense had called for a maximum 15-year- jail term, arguing that he was mentally unstable at the time and that he had been having trouble with colleagues at the company where he worked. However, a psychiatric test found him fit to stand trial.
In handing down the life sentence, the presiding judge said there was no room for leniency in such a brutal crime.
© Japan Today
4 Comments
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DaDude
He wanted a short sentence but should have gotten a death sentence.
Yusuke Ohkawa
Michael Jackson: It usually takes 2 kills without any reasons to be sentenced to death. for example, raping 2 women and killing them usually results to the death sentence.
canadianbento
This is a good move by the Judicial Peole of Japan sentencing this Killer to life! Other so-called freedom Countries should take the same approach and keep Killers in Jail forever!
Michael Jackson
If he murdered three people, what does it take to get a death sentence in Japan?