A Japanese court on Monday sentenced a former care home employee to hang for knifing to death 19 disabled people and injuring two dozen others in the deadliest mass attack in post World War II Japan. The Yokohama District Court convicted Satoshi Uematsu of the killings and of injuring 24 other residents and two caregivers at the Yamayuri-en residential center in July 2016.
During the investigation and trial, Uematsu repeatedly said he had no regrets and was trying to help the world by killing people he thought were burdens. Advocacy groups said the suspect's views reflected a persistent prejudice in Japan against people with disabilities.
The trial focused on his mental state at the time of the crime. Chief Judge Kiyoshi Aonuma dismissed defense requests to acquit him because he was mentally incompetent due to a marijuana overdose.
"The attacks were premeditated, and the defendant was acting consistently to achieve his goal," Aonuma said, according to NHK public television.
"The crime, which took the lives of 19 people, was extremely heinous and caused damage that is incomparable to any other case," he was quoted by Kyodo News as saying.
Source: CBS News
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