Top court upholds death for man convicted of
killing 5 in train station rampage
Friday 11th July, 2008
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death penalty given
to a man who was convicted of killing five people and
injuring 10 others in a 1999 rampage at JR Shimonoseki
Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan. The top
court’s second petty bench turned down an appeal filed by
the defendant Yasuaki Uwabe, 44.
In Friday’s decision, Justice Isao Imai rejected the
defense counsel’s argument that the defendant was insane at
the time of the rampage. ‘‘The defendant, under thorough
preparations and a firm will to kill, staged an
indiscriminate attack on innocent people at the station
that is extremely atrocious,” the judge said. Uwabe took
120 sleeping pills and drove a rental car into the railway
station on Sept 29, 1999, running over seven people. He
then attacked eight other people there with an
18-centimeter kitchen knife. Five of the 15 died.