Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
A 21-year-old man indicted for arson-murder in Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, in 2019, remained silent on the opening day of his trial on Wednesday.
At the opening session at the Nara District Court, Shu Takekabu made no comment as the indictment was read out, Sankei Shimbun reported.
According to the indictment, early on the morning of Nov 25, 2019, the second floor apartment of Takekabu in Kashihara was set on fire. After the fire was extinguished, police and firefighters found the remains of a man subsequently identified as Naoki Yamaoka, 28, a resident of Sakurai City.
Takekabu turned himself in at a police station on Dec 15, telling officers that he was responsible for the death of Yamaoka. He said that around midnight on Nov 24, he stabbed Yamaoka with knife on the road outside his apartment. He then brought the injured Yamaoka into his apartment and set fire to it.
Police said Takekabu fled to Fukuoka City after setting the apartment on fire and had been sleeping in internet cafes there.
Prosecutors said that Takekabu told police after his arrest he had chosen Yamaoka at random and argued that he was driven by a cold-blooded desire to kill someone.
© Japan Today
3 Comments
Login to comment
kaimycahl
Takekabu told police after his arrest he had chosen Yamaoka at random and argued that he was driven by a cold-blooded desire to kill someone. Get the rope ready and make sure the trap door works, this idiot needs to go to sleep forever, he doesn't deserve to see another day with those thoughts.
snowymountainhell
“Murder-arson” if Yamaoka was dead before the fire. For prosecutors, maybe ‘property damage’ by fire’ in a densely, populated area gets a greater incarceration. They can always ‘dumb down’ the murder to aggravated assualt resulting in death or, ‘manslaughter’.
The rest of the details are sketchy: Takekabu walked outside: chose Yamaoka ‘at random’, (argued?), stabbed him (there? fatally?), carried(?) or, assisted him(?) inside; then, set his own place on fire.
Random
Should spend the rest of his life in prison, but most likely will be released before age 40.