78-year-old Chiba father pleads guilty to murder of disabled 44-year-old son saying “I did nothing wrong”

From NHK

February 17 2025

CHIBA – The first hearing of a 78-year-old father accused of killing his disabled 44-year-old second son at his home in Chosei Village, Chiba Prefecture, last July was held, and the father admitted to the charges, saying, “I did nothing wrong.”

Defendant Toshio Hiranouchi (78), an unemployed man from Chosei Village, is accused of killing his disabled and second son, then 44, at his home in July last year by strangling him with a cord.

At the first hearing of the lay judge trial held at the Chiba District Court on the 17th, the defendant admitted to the charges, saying, “I did nothing wrong.”

In their opening statement, the prosecution argued, “The second son has a severe intellectual disability, and we could not find a long-term facility in Kanagawa Prefecture where we used to live. We moved to Chiba Prefecture a little over a month before the incident because we did not want to cause trouble for those around us, but on the day of the incident, he threw a television and tore off the shoji screens, so we thought he would continue to act violently, and so we committed the crime.”

The defense responded by arguing that the father had reached his limit with caring for his son, and that the sentence should be considered in light of the circumstances leading up to the incident.

The trial also called into question the father’s mother, who lived with him, and she tearfully stated, “My husband loved our second son and did his best to look after him, but I think what he did is never forgivable. I share responsibility, and I want to atone for my crimes together with him.”