Japanese mass murderer’s fresh death penalty appeal rekindles capital punishment debate

Satoshi Uematsu, 32, was sentenced to death in March 2020 for killing 19 people at a care home for the mentally disabled in 2016

Ahead of a judicial decision in the coming weeks on whether a retrial should be granted, Japan’s overwhelming public support for capital punishment is again in the spotlight

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Satoshi Uematsu was sentenced to death for the 2016 killings of 19 disabled people at a Japanese care home. File photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 6 May 2022

A Japanese man sentenced to death for murdering 19 people at a facility for the mentally disabled in 2016 has appealed his conviction, triggering renewed debate over the death penalty in a country where public support for capital punishment remains high.

Satoshi Uematsu, 32, was convicted in March 2020 of the murder of 19 residents at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care centre in Sagamihara city outside Tokyo, and sentenced to death. Uematsu, a former caretaker at the facility, used knives to injure another 26 people, leaving 13 of them severely injured.

Immediately after the death sentence was meted out at the Yokohama District Court, Uematsu withdrew the automatic legal appeal to higher courts.

The request for a retrial was filed with the same court on April 1, with judges to rule on whether a retrial should be granted in the coming weeks.

The reason for the appeal is unclear, although Uematsu’s lawyers claimed in the original trial that he could not be held accountable for his actions due to mental incompetence, in part from his consumption of marijuana.