“He began to talk about the killing method about two months before the incident. I had been involved in the conversation whilst I thought it was a delusion, but the content was gradually becoming more realistic I was scared…After that, I was strongly invited by the defendant to cooperate but declined. “
Lawyers read the testimony given by friends of the defandant who stipulate that he “started saying ‘kill the disabled’ six months before the incident.”
Takashi Ono said that he was sitting in a seat where he could see Uematsu, and said: “They read my son’s real name as Kazuya Ono. But it was a pity that there was no reaction. ”
The defendant’s former partner said that the defendant referred to the residents of the Tsukui Lily Garden care facility as “cute” two years before the incident, but that his way of describing the residents became more severe about seven months before the incident, that he began to speak of people with disabilities as “unproductive.”
On the 16th, the fourth day of hearings was held at the Yokohama District Court. Prosecutors read the statements of the bereaved families of all 19 victims in the court.
“I couldn’t be convinced by a verbal apology alone, I thought it was the best way to do it. It was an action I thought about and was confused. I had been thinking about doing this about two years ago.”
Monday 13th January was a national holiday in Japan, it was ‘Coming of Age Day’, so with some other public services, the courts did not sit in Japan. Barrier Free Japan felt this was a good time to recount the first few days in ‘Sagamihara Massacre’ trial, and offer a kind of ‘timeline’ of the trial thus far.
