Japan’s ‘Twitter killer’ Takahiro Shiraishi hanged: Lured victims with ‘Let’s die collectively’; left body parts in cat-litter boxes

Shiraishi, 34, referred to as himself the “hangman” on Twitter and provided to assist folks in ache has been executed (AP picture)

He referred to as himself the “hangman” on Twitter and provided to assist folks in ache. But behind that twisted masks of sympathy was one in every of Japan’s most cold-blooded serial killers. On Friday, Takahiro Shiraishi, infamously dubbed the “Twitter killer”, was hanged for the homicide of 9 younger folks he met via social media, in a case that shocked the nation and reignited debate over the nation’s secretive loss of life penalty system.Shiraishi, 34, was hanged on the Tokyo detention home, with the execution carried out in secrecy and introduced solely after it was accomplished. The victims, eight girls and one man, aged between 15 and 26, had all expressed suicidal ideas on-line. Shiraishi typically responded to such posts with messages like “Let’s die together” and used a deal with that loosely translated to “hangman.” His profile learn: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.” the Jiji information company reported.

House of horrors

The case got here to gentle in October 2017, when police investigating a lacking lady found human stays in Shiraishi’s Zama condo. Body parts had been saved in coolers and toolboxes, sprinkled with cat litter in an try and masks decomposition. Local media described the flat as a “house of horrors.”He used to lure them to his condo close to Tokyo, the place he raped and killed the feminine victims, additionally murdering one lady’s boyfriend to silence him. Justice minister Keisuke Suzuki mentioned the murders had been pushed by Shiraishi’s “sexual and financial desires,” and concerned “robbery, rape, murder, destruction of a corpse and abandonment of corpse.” He added that the crimes triggered “great shock and anxiety to society.”

Defence brutally rejected

Shiraishi’s authorized workforce had argued that the victims had consented to die resulting from their suicidal ideas and therefore demanded decreased sentence on the idea of “murder with consent”. They additionally raised considerations over his psychological state. However, the courtroom dismissed each claims. He pleaded responsible in courtroom, stating he had killed the victims to fulfill his personal sexual wishes, in keeping with NHK and TV Asahi.The decide referred to as the acts “cunning and cruel,” stating that Shirashi preyed on “mentally fragile” people and violated their dignity.

Public response

The execution has triggered the resumption of public debate on Japan’s use of the loss of life penalty. Executions in Japan are at all times carried out by hanging, and at present round 100 inmates stay on loss of life row. Japan and the United States are the one G7 international locations that also implement the loss of life penalty.Shiraishi’s hanging follows different high-profile executions in current years. In 2022, Tomohiro Kato was executed for a 2008 rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara district that left seven lifeless. In 2018, Japan executed cult chief Shoko Asahara and 12 members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect, accountable for the 1995 sarin gasoline assault on Tokyo’s subway system that killed 14 folks and injured 1000’s.