16-Year-Old Murders His Parents, Judge Blames Them For The Crime
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A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of killing his mother and his father last year. According to the presiding judge, the “incident wouldn’t have happened” if it weren’t for his parents.
On February 10, 2024, the teen killed his 52-year-old father inside the family’s apartment in Sagamihara, Japan by stabbing him multiple times in the neck. He then waited for his 50-year-old mother to come home and, using the same knife and method, ended her life.
The defense claimed the mother’s death was assisted suicide, that she had asked her son to kill her. Yokohama District Court Judge Takahira Yoshii, however, pointed out a detail from the incident that contradicted this claim: the boy’s mother had gone out onto the balcony to cry out for help.
Given the severity of the crime, the prosecution sought a 10-15 year prison sentence. The defense, on the other hand, argued that the boy should receive protective measures under Japan’s Juvenile Law instead because he had been driven to commit murder by the severe mental and physical abuse he had endured from his parents.
The judge, who said that the boy “regrets” the murders, decided that corrective education would be more appropriate for him than prison time. “The incident wouldn’t have happened if he had not been placed in an inappropriate environment by his parents,” he said.
The case has been moved to family court, where a future hearing will be held.
