Mamoru Takuma
Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守) | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 23, 1963 |
| Died | September 14, 2004 (aged 40) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation | Janitor |
| Known for | Perpetrator of the Osaka School Massacre |
| Children | One daughter |
Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守, Takuma Mamoru, November 23, 1963 – September 14, 2004) was the mass murderer who killed 8 people and wounded 15 others in the 2001 Osaka school massacre.[1] He had been convicted and imprisoned for rape before the massacre.[2]
Early life
Takuma dropped out of high school and was disowned by his father. He entered the Japan Air Self Defense Force but was soon discharged due to having sexual intercourse with a minor. In 1984, Takuma lived with his mother secretly. His father was very angry and took back his wife.
Crimes history
In November 1984, he was arrested for raping a woman[3] and sentenced to three years in prison.[2] He had been arrested at least eleven times and had married four times before the massacre. After his release from jail, he moved to Ikeda and found work as a bus and garbage truck driver. He was described by coworkers as a quiet and unremarkable man, but a bit of a loner who did not like dealing with customers and preferred working alone.
After assaulting a passenger over the smell of their perfume in 1998, he was fired and got a new job as maintenance man at Itami Elementary School, 6 kilometers away from Ikeda. In October of the same year, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his former wife.
On March 3, 1999, he dissolved some of his own tranquilizer, temazepam, into the tea served in the teachers' room, sending 4 people to the hospital. He was arrested and packed off to a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but after one month's treatment was judged to be "capable of taking care of himself" and released.
In November 1999, he was arrested on suspicion of entering into a private home, but charges were dropped. He managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired on October 16th after he assaulted a hotel bellboy in Osaka and broke his nose. He was also kicked out of several apartments for, among other things, throwing his garbage out from the balcony. On May 23, 2001, he was again committed to the hospital, but he left after one day and did not return.
Massacre
On June 8, 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellboy assault case, he went on a murderous rampage in the Ikeda Elementary School. Wrestled down by staff within minutes, he was described as being in an extremely confused state when arrested, at first repeating "I went to the elementary school", and then saying "I went to the train station and stabbed 100 people with my knife. I did not go to the elementary school."[4]
He also stated:
- 「何もかも嫌になった。何回も自殺を図ったが死にきれない。捕まえて死刑にしてほしかった。」[5]
- Nani mo kamo iya ni natta. Nankai mo jisatsu wo hakatta ga shi ni kirenai. Tsukamaete shikei ni shite hoshikatta.
- "I've become disgusted with everything. I've tried to kill myself several times, but couldn't. Give me a death sentence."[6]
Trial and death
He seemed to be regarded as insane at first, but his illness was eventually diagnosed as paranoid personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.[7] At first, he said that he took a 10× overdose of his psychiatric drugs on the day, but the testimony was turned out to be a lie, and so he was suspected to engage in malingering.[8]
On August 28, 2003, Takuma was found guilty of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death.[9] He was ejected from the court before the sentence.[10] Takuma remained unrepentant, refusing to apologize to the families of the victims, and only asked for the sentence to be fulfilled as fast as possible. His statement was, "I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did."[11] The sentence was carried out with unusual speed, and Takuma was executed by hanging on September 14, 2004.[12]
Aftermath
He has had an influence on Japanese murderers. For example, Kaoru Kobayashi, who had sexually assaulted and murdered seven-year-old girl Kaede Ariyama, considered Takuma as a charismatic murderer and sought speedy execution.[13]
On the 2008 memorial day, Tomohiro Kato killed seven in Akihabara.[14]
Note
The name "Takuma Mamoru" can be translated as "protect" (mamoru) "the home" (takuma).
Mamoru was born one day after the John F. Kennedy assassination.
References
- ^ "Japan mourns school victims". CNN. 2001-06-10. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ a b "付属池田小事件裁判傍聴記 殺人鬼の素顔とは" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Takuma conceived of massacre in 1984". The Japan Times. 2002-07-26. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Motive for school stabbing unclear". Television New Zealand. 2001-06-13. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
- ^ ちゆ12歳 [in Japanese] (2001-06-08). "教室に乱入、児童８人を刺殺". Retrieved 2008-02-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "School massacre shatters Japan's sense of security". The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. 2001-06-09. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "宅間守資料" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-03-09.
- ^ "宅間容疑者再逮捕へ／全面自供にも消えぬ危ぐ" (in Japanese). toonippo. 2001-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Death for Japanese school killer". BBC. 2003-08-28. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "不規則発言し退廷命令" (in Japanese). 47 News. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Quote Of The Day - I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did". Japan Today. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Japanese school killer executed". BBC. 2004-09-14. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Defendant admits abducting and killing schoolgirl in Nara". The Japan Times. 2005-04-19. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Seven dead in Tokyo stabbing frenzy". AFP. 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2008-06-08.