The Tokyo District Court sentenced a suspect who had claimed that a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z told him to stab another man with a kitchen knife with a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years for attempted murder.
Presiding Judge Masato Itō certified that the suspect, a 38-year-old unemployed man named Mitsuru Imai, had diminished mental capacity that is why he gave the said prison sentence.
Imai claimed that he stabbed the victim because he was told "Kill with a kitchen knife" and "That man" by a Super Saiyan. Therefore, the defense asserted that Imai had diminished responsibility at the time of the crime as a mitigating factor. While Judge Itō ruled that Imai had diminished mental capacity, he also ruled that it was not enough to declare Imai not guilty by reason of insanity.
The judge explained that he gave Imai a five-year suspension because he hoped that Imai would continue to receive treatment, as the defendant had very little presence of mind to avoid committing the crime.
According to the case, Imai was on the street in a shopping area of Tokyo's Taitō ward on February 8, 2010. Imai thought he was being harassed by an unfamiliar man who had been drinking since morning, and then Imai bought a knife from a nearby convenience store. Imai actually stabbed another man who resembled the man he thought was harassing him. The victim, who was 57 years old at the time, received serious stab wounds in the abdomen that took five months to heal.
The prosecution had asked for a five-year prison sentence without suspension. If Imai is not convicted of another crime in the next five years, he will not have to serve the prison sentence.
Source: Sankei News via Anime News Network
Presiding Judge Masato Itō certified that the suspect, a 38-year-old unemployed man named Mitsuru Imai, had diminished mental capacity that is why he gave the said prison sentence.
Imai claimed that he stabbed the victim because he was told "Kill with a kitchen knife" and "That man" by a Super Saiyan. Therefore, the defense asserted that Imai had diminished responsibility at the time of the crime as a mitigating factor. While Judge Itō ruled that Imai had diminished mental capacity, he also ruled that it was not enough to declare Imai not guilty by reason of insanity.
The judge explained that he gave Imai a five-year suspension because he hoped that Imai would continue to receive treatment, as the defendant had very little presence of mind to avoid committing the crime.
According to the case, Imai was on the street in a shopping area of Tokyo's Taitō ward on February 8, 2010. Imai thought he was being harassed by an unfamiliar man who had been drinking since morning, and then Imai bought a knife from a nearby convenience store. Imai actually stabbed another man who resembled the man he thought was harassing him. The victim, who was 57 years old at the time, received serious stab wounds in the abdomen that took five months to heal.
The prosecution had asked for a five-year prison sentence without suspension. If Imai is not convicted of another crime in the next five years, he will not have to serve the prison sentence.
Source: Sankei News via Anime News Network