“I want the defendant to feel a little sorry.” Former employees visit site of care home stabbings as trial approaches

Written with extracts from NHK

December 26th 2019

On July 26th 2016, residents were stabbed with blades one after another at a facility for intellectual disabilities “Tsukui Yamayuri-en” in Sagamihara City, killing 19 people and injuring 26 people.

A former staff member of the facility visited the site of the attack.

In front of the facility, a flower arrangement was set up on the anniversary of every month on the 26th of the month, former staff members who were in charge of the victims visited the facility.

A former employee said, “I felt even more liable that I couldn’t prevent the case.”

Another former employee, a 75-year-old woman who had been working at the facility for about 40 years, said, “No matter what the outcome of the trial, the victims will not return. I want the defendant to feel a little sorry.”

The trial will begin on the 8th of next month and the ruling will be issued on March 16th.