Former Japanese Vice Agriculture Minister admits to killing 44 year old developmentally disabled son

Written with extracts from Jiji Press via The Japan News

Content has been edited to withhold the defendant’s and victim’s name.

December 11th 2019

A former vice agriculture minister on Wednesday admitted killing his 44-year-old son at his house in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward in June this year.

He pleaded guilty in the first hearing of his lay judge trial at the Tokyo District Court.

According to an opening statement by public prosecutors, The defendant’s eldest son, moved to his parents’ residence on May 25 this year due to his worsening physical condition while living alone.

The former vice agriculture minister said he started thinking about killing his from fear, after suffering violence from him at home on the day after he moved in. His son used used violence when angered by his father talking about ways to dispose of garbage from his previous home.

The son, unemployed for 11 years, had difficulty communicating with others due to a developmental disorder. He had been violent at home since his school days.

The defense claimed that the son was irritated by noise from an athletic festival at a nearby elementary school and made threatening remarks on June 1.

Recalling the violence he had suffered on May 26, the defendant felt he had no choice but to kill his son, the defense said.

According to the indictment, the former vice agriculture minister stabbed his son to death in the neck and chest with a knife around 3:15 p.m. on June 1 in a room on the first floor of his house.