The Gifu District Court has sentenced a 22-year-old man to life in prison for killing an elderly couple in their home in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, in November 2014.
According to the court, Shinya Kasahara, then 20, and unemployed, broke into the couple's house just after noon on Nov 11, 2014, and fatally stabbed Taizo Inoue, 81, and his wife Michiko, 73, Fuji TV reported.
After his arrest, Kasahara told police that he assumed there were young women living in the house because he had seen their washing on the clothesline. He said he was after the women.
The Inoues lived with their two granddaughters, one in her late teens and the other in her early 20s. Both were home at the time and escaped uninjured.
Kasahara was seen fleeing from the house on a bicycle.
Prosecutors had sought the death sentence but the presiding judge ruled that Kasahara's actions were not those of a sane man.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
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A.N. Other
Surely diminished responsibility rather than insanity?
Chinchan Zu
sane people cant commit a crime... unless its for self-defense.
sensei258
You are right Strangerland. The judge probably didn't want to be responsible for hanging such a young person. But, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy does it to himself in prison.
Strangerland
What I don't understand is how he was both found guilty and insane. If he was insane, he should have been not guilty by insanity, and if he was guilty, then he shouldn't have been found insane.
Disillusioned
I don't get that at all. So, if you are insane you cannot be given the death penalty? But, if you are sane you can? I would have thought it would be the other way around. Sane people could be rehabilitated, but insane people are just, insane.
sensei258
To be legally insane (and thus not guilty) the suspect must not have known right from wrong when he committed the crime. But still, life in prison for a 22 year old is a looooong time
sensei258
No sh@t Sherlock