A 39-year-old Japanese man sentenced to death for killing seven people on the streets of Akihabara, Tokyo’s electronic district in June 2008, has been executed, local media including public broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday.
Tomohiro Kato, 25 at the time, drove a truck into bystanders in broad daylight before getting out of the vehicle and stabbing random people in the crowd with a double-edged blade, killing seven and wounding ten. .
The death sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal in September 2012 following a first-instance verdict in March 2011, and the Supreme Court of Japan rejected Tomohiro Kato’s appeal in 2015, making the sentence final.
A first since December 2021
The convict, at the time a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in a small town in central Japan, had learned shortly before the massacre that his contract would end at the end of June 2008.
Hosted by his employer, he was also going to lose his apartment and had relied on the internet that he feared he would be homeless. During a hearing, Tomohiro Kato had also explained that he had committed this crime due to the criticism he had been subjected to on the internet.
After the massacre, Japanese authorities banned the possession of double-edged daggers with blades longer than 5.5 centimeters.
It is the first application of the death penalty in Japan since last December, when three people sentenced to death for murder were executed by hanging.
Source: BFM TV
