A Japanese man who executed 9 people he met through Twitter was sentenced to death by a Tokyo court on Tuesday.
Takahiro Shiraishi, 30, used the microblogging platform to contact nine 15-25 years old people who used to post about taking their own lives. The killer was labelled as ‘Twitter Killer’ after he admitted of butchering 8 women and one man he met online.
The murderer’s lawyer argued that the victims showed signs of depression and even expressed their desire to kill themselves, in a way consenting for their death. But the court rejected this argument and handed the death sentence to Shiraishi.
"None of the nine victims consented to be killed, including silent consent," the judge said, according to public broadcaster NHK.
"It is extremely grave that the lives of nine young people were taken away. The dignity of the victims was trampled upon," the judge reportedly added.
The father of one of the victims said “will never forgive Shiraishi even if he dies”, as reported by the NHK. "Even now, when I see a woman of my daughter's age, I mistake her for my daughter. This pain will never go away. Give her back to me!" he added.
Shiraishi used to target young people on Twitter by telling them that he could help them in their plans and could even die alongside them.
