Care Home Massacre accused says he “acted deliberately” and smoked cannabis “three hours before the incident”

Written with extracts translated from NHK

January 27th 2020

YOKOHAMA – The trial of a man accused of killing 19 people and injuring others at a care home in Sagamihara City on July 26th 2016, continued on January 27th at the Yokohama District Court.

Satoshi Uematsu, aged 30, has pleaded not guilty to killing 19 residents and injuring dozens more at the the Tsukui Lily Garden facility for people with disabilities in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa.

The prosecution asked questions of the defendant on 27th January. The defendant said he aimed to attack the facility at night time when there were few staff on duty.

The defendant explained that he grabbed keys from a female employee and that he had acted deliberately.

When questioned about being told that a resident could talk, he said, “I thought that the explanation by the staff was a lie and made my own judgment by calling out “good morning”, and then acted deliberately.

He said he appeared at a police station after the incident to show that he was not confused.

When asked by the prosecution about the effects of cannabis, he said he smoked for “30 minutes to 1 hour” and also remarked “I last smoked about 3 hours before the incident.”