Japan’s ‘Twitter killer’ who butchered nine victims after luring them to his home is sentenced to death
JAPAN’S evil “Twitter killer” who butchered nine victims after luring them to his home has been sentenced to death.
, 30, and one man after horrified cops found bones and butchered body parts stashed in cooler boxes at his flat.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced the serial killer to death, reports the .
Presiding Judge Naokuni Yano described the murders as “extremely vicious in crime history".
Yano ruled that all nine victims did not consent to being chopped up, and that Shiraishi was mentally fit to be held responsible for the murders.
The corpses were found stuffed into cool boxes inside his flat after neighbours reported a "nasty smell like sewage".
Authorities made the grisly discovery in October 2017 after investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who was last seen walking with Shiraishi.
One resident told the Japan Times at the time: “I thought it smelled like sewage. It was something I never smelled before.”
Another neighbour claimed he’d noticed a “nasty smell” coming from the apartment from as early as August.
The twisted killer carried out internet searches to learn how to mutilate bodies - later buying a saw and a meat cleaver.
The discovery of plastic hand ties at his home suggested he may have kept some of his victims alive before killing them.
All but one of the sicko's victims were women aged between 15 and 26.
The severed flesh was found covered with cat litter in a bid to hide the evidence.
They included heads and 240 bone parts stored in containers, according to horrified police officers.
Cops then started the exhaustive process of DNA testing in an effort to identify the victims.
He targeted and lured people with suicidal tendencies online, by telling them he could help them in their plans or even die alongside them.
Under one account, Shiraishi cast himself as desperate. "I want to forget everything," he wrote in an August 25 post. "I want to disappear."
In another bizarre post he was reported to have written: "If you are at a dead end, please consult me."
Jobless Takahiro Shiraishi grew up with his parents and younger sister up in the city of Zama in central Japan.
After graduating from senior high he did a series of odd jobs including working in a supermarket and food factory before becoming a scout for a prostitution ring.
He built up a small following on Twitter through at least two accounts, one of which was called "I want to die" and another "A professional at hanging".
His lawyers had argued he should receive a prison sentence because his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media and so had consented to death.
But the judge said: "None of the nine victims consented to be killed, including silent consent.
"It is extremely grave that the lives of nine young people were taken away. The dignity of the victims was trampled upon."
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NHK said 435 people turned up to watch the verdict, even though the court only had 16 seats available for the public.
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The father of one 25-year-old victim said in court last month that he "will never forgive Shiraishi even if he dies".
Years usually pass between sentencing and execution, and the last execution was in December 2019, when a Chinese man was hanged for the murder of a family of four.
