On the night of November 21, Yuya Akiyama, of no known occupation, allegedly used a knife to stab the girl, then 19, in the abdomen in Meijo Park in Kita Ward.
The girl suffered injuries that required one week to heal, police said.
According to police, the girl instructed Akiyama to carry out the crime after they became acquainted via Twitter. “Will you kill me?” she reportedly wrote.
“I did not intend to kill”
Upon his arrest on suspicion of attempting to carry out a contract murder on Saturday, Akiyama denied the allegations. “I carried out the act, but I did not intend to kill,” the suspect said.
Prior to the incident, Akiyama traveled from the Kanto region by train to Shizuoka Prefecture to meet her.
Akiyama and the girl then traveled together inside her car to purchase the knife at a store. Afterward, they headed to the park.
At some point after the stabbing, the girl decided to seek help from a male passerby who contacted police.
Akiyama surfaced as a person of interest for police after they examined the girl’s Twitter account. He is believed to been motivated by payment from the girl.
The case is not the first of a kind. In December, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Takahiro Shiraishi to death over the murder of nine persons. He met them all via Twitter after they expressed a desire to die.
