For the first time in three years, Japan has carried out a capital punishment sentence by hanging a man known as the “Twitter killer.” Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged to death on Friday, at Tokyo Detention House. He was convicted and sentenced to death for killing and dismembering nine people in his apartment in 2020.
Takahiro Shiraishi’s was found guilty of sexually assaulting and robbing eight of his female victims aged between 15 and 26 in 2017. He lured them to his apartment near Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo using a X (Twitter) handle that roughly translates to “hangman.” The victims were all suicidal and Shiraishi had falsely promised them that he would die with them, posting things like “Won’t you die with me?” The sole male victim was the boyfriend of one of the women.
Shiraishi would dump the mutilated bodies of the women in garbage disposals and other places around Zama. In October 2017, police searched his house to investigate the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman who had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media. The woman's brother who accessed her social media, led the police to Shiraishi’s apartment where they found cooler boxes and containers in with body parts. Some were stashed in boxes filled with cat litter, which he used to hide evidence.
He had admitted in court that he killed them for sexual gratification. His defense council had filed an appeal with the Tokyo High Court but Shiraishi withdrew it himself which finalised his sentence.
Before he moved to Zama, Shiraishi used to work as a scout that lured women into sex work at clubs.
One of the victim’s father told NHK, a Japanese media agency, that the execution changed nothing and that it would have been better for Shiraishi to have lived so that he could reflect on his crimes.
The execution was ordered by Japan's Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki who said that he ordered it after “careful consideration.” In a press conference, the minister said that “the case caused the extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shock wave and unease to the society.” he also said that “it is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed.”
In a government poll conducted every five years, 80 per cent of Japanese citizens showed support for capital punishment. The last time capital punishment was used in Japan was in 2022, to execute a man who went on a stabbing spree and killed seven people after crashing a truck in a district in Tokyo.
(If you are in a crisis or have suicidal thoughts, please call 14416)
