Brother of Care Home Massacre victim says in court: “I’m asking the defendant for the death penalty”

Written with extracts translated from NHK

February 12th 2020

YOKOHAMA– The trial of a man accused of killing 19 people and injuring 24 others at a care home in Sagamihara City on July 26th 2016, resumed on February 12. The family and others came to court to discuss their feelings about the incident.

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

The brother of a sixty year old woman who died in the attack bowed deeply toward the defendant and then asked the defendant for the death penalty, saying in a choked voice:

“I’m asking the defendant for the death penalty. It’s time to take your life and the incident has taken place seriously.”

The defendant put on a black suit and a mask, and when the bereaved bowed, he lowered his head in the same way, but did not change his expression.