The man charged with the 2008 fatal stabbing rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district has admitted to the charges at his first court appearance and apologized to the victims and their families.
Tokyo District Court on Thursday began the trial of 27-year-old Tomohiro Kato. The defendant is charged with ramming a truck into a crowd in the busy shopping district and randomly stabbing passers-by. Seven people were killed and 10 others injured.
Kato read out a statement saying that he admitted to the charges, but that he does not remember some parts of the incident. He said he is deeply sorry for those who were killed or injured or who lost loved ones, and that the best thing he can do to repent for his crime is to let people know how it happened.
The defense lawyers, however, said prosecutors' claims that Kato was capable of taking responsibility for the incident because he could understand the consequences of his crimes is questionable.
The prosecutors said working in a temporary job meant Kato was unhappy that his worth was not correctly understood, leading him to consider a mobile-phone website as the only place where he could share his frustration.
They said Kato came to view everybody as his enemy after he found messages encouraging him disappearing from the site.
They insisted that the defendant wanted to take revenge against those who had ignored him and make them recognize his existence by committing a serious crime.
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