TOKYO (TR) – A 30-year-old man sentenced to death last week over the murders of nine persons at his apartment in Zama City will not appeal the ruling, a court here has revealed.
The Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court on December 15 sentenced Takahiro Shiraishi to death.
Three days later, his defense team appealed the ruling. The court had set a deadline of January 4, 2021 for an appeal.
However, the court said on Wednesday that the defense team had withdrawn the appeal.
According to the indictment, Shiraishi used Twitter to lure the eight women and one man to the apartment in 2017. He strangled each of them with a rope and carved up their bodies.
Shiraishi also stole money from the victims and sexually assaulted all eight women.
During the trial, Shiraishi pleaded guilty to the crimes.
“It was a lie”
On October 30, 2017, police entered the residence and found body parts belonging to the eight women and one man inside seven ice coolers.
During the course of the investigation, police also discovered a number of items in the residence that were believed to have been used in the killings, including a saw and 10 nylon ropes.
In recruiting the victims, Shiraishi told them that he also was seeking to kill himself. However, he later told police, “I had no intention of committing suicide with them. It was a lie.”