Tokyo: A Japanese man was called the “Twitter killer” for attracting his victims on social media was produced before the court for murdering nine people.
Lawyers of Takahiro Shiraishi, argued that the charges should be reduced because the victims — who had expressed suicidal thoughts, gave their consent to be killed. Shiraishi, who is also accused of dismembering his victims and storing body parts in coolboxes, did not contest nine counts of murder, saying they “are all correct”.
Shiraishi is accused of using Twitter to contact victims aged between 15 and 26 who posted online about taking their own lives, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them. But his lawyers want the charges against him reduced to “murder with consent”, which carries a prison sentence of between six months and seven years.
“There were bruises on the back of the victims’ heads. It means there was no consent and I did it so that they wouldn’t resist,” he said. Shiraishi was detained three years ago by police investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had tweeted about wanting to kill herself. After she went missing, her brother apparently gained access to her Twitter account, and noticed a suspicious handle.
Police found the house of horrors behind Shiraishi’s front door on the morning of Halloween in 2017. Nine dismembered bodies, with as many as 240 bone parts stashed in coolers and toolboxes, had been sprinkled with cat litter in a bid to hide the evidence. Shiraishi told he “didn’t plan on getting caught” and boasted of not being identified until his final killing.
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