AICHI (TR) – A 28-year-old unemployed man this week admitted to the gruesome murders of two women in Nagoya, with prosecutors alleging he went on a killing spree out of despair over his failing sex business, reports TV Asahi (June 15).
Appearing in the Nagoya District Court for his first hearing on Monday, Haruki Soga, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the charges against him. However, his defense team argued that he was in a state of diminished mental capacity at the time of the attacks.
According to the indictment, Soga murdered 30-year-old Shiori Nagano — with whom he was living at the time — by forcing her face underwater in the bathtub of their Naka Ward apartment between December 25, 2023 and the following day.
On December 26, Soga also killed a 20-year-old woman at a karaoke parlor in Nakamura Ward by stabbing her multiple times in the chest with a kitchen knife.
In their opening statement, prosecutors shed light on the motive behind the bloodshed. They pointed out that Soga had been operating a fuzoku (commercial sex) business that was struggling financially.
Driven to desperation by his failing business, Soga “became reckless and murdered the two women who were closest to him at the time,” the prosecution stated.
On the other hand, the defense argued that the defendant was suffering from depression at the time of the incident, and therefore his criminal responsibility was limited.
