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Sagamihara stabbings: Suspect ordered prostitute hours before killing spree

Satoshi Uematsu
Satoshi Uematsu summoned a prostitute to a hotel in Tokyo’s Kabukicho red-light district hours before going a stabbing spree

KANAGAWA (TR) – New testimony in the prosecution of a 26-year-old man accused in a killing spree at a facility for the disabled in July in Sagamihara City has revealed that the defendant ordered a prostitute from a high-end service just before the incident, reports Fuji News Network (Sept. 8).

According to testimony from a receptionist at a “delivery health” dispatch service, Satoshi Uematsu, who has been accused of murder in the stabbing attack that killed 19 persons and injured more than 20 others the Tsukui Yamayuri En facility, summoned a prostitute to a hotel in the Kabukicho red-light district of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at around 11:00 p.m. on July 25.

About three hours later, Uematsu, entered the facility for the disabled, located about 60 kilometers from Kabukicho, on the ground floor by breaking a window with a hammer and allegedly began stabbing patients in succession in a spree that last for about 50 minutes. At some point, he bound the hands of staff members who tried to stop him.

“I will become Japan’s Hitler”

In requesting the prostitute by telephone, Uematsu reportedly told the receptionist of the service, which charged him 80,000 yen per hour, that he was seeking a “final memory.”

“The girl dispatched to the room said that there was ‘something like a cigarette in the ashtray, but it was surely cannabis as the room really smelled,'” the employee said.

Between December of 2012 and this past February, Uematsu worked at Tsukui Yamayuri En. At around the time of his resignation, he submitted a letter to the official residence of the lower house chairman that discussed the elimination of handicapped persons.

Uematsu was subsequently institutionalized at a mental hospital, during which time he also tested positive for marijuana. Prior to his release in March, he was diagnosed as experiencing a marijuana-induced mental disorder. After his arrest, the results of a urine sample revealed the presence of marijuana.

At one point during the session at the hotel, the prostitute asked Uematsu about his job after noticing his ornate irezumi tattoo on his back, according to the service’s receptionist. “I am a supporter of justice,” he said to the prostitute with a stern look. “World peace is my job. I will become Japan’s Hitler.”

A black bag

The receptionist added that aside from time spent in bed or in the bath Uematsu always carried around a black bag. It is believed that this bag was the one he used to carry the knives he wielded in committing the crime. When the defendant was apprehended by police, about one hour after the incident began, he was carrying the bag, which contained three knives, with one of them stained in blood.

At around midnight, Uematsu bid farewell to the prostitute, according the receptionist. “Don’t forget my face,” he told her while standing at the entrance to the hotel room. “Remember it exactly. I’m going to be Japan’s Hitler. Now I have to go to work.”

On Monday, Uematsu was served with his ninth arrest warrant on charges of murder.