Satoshi Uematsu

JAPAN: CARE HOME MASS MURDERER WILL NOT APPEAL DEATH PENALTY RULING

March 19, 2020:

A Japanese man who was sentenced to death over the 2016 murder of 19 mentally impaired people at a care home near Tokyo said on 18 March 2020 he will not appeal the ruling.
Satoshi Uematsu, a 30-year-old who formerly worked at the Tsukui Yamayuri En care facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, told Kyodo News even if his defense counsel files an appeal by the 30 March deadline, he will request it be dropped.
"I kind of expected (the death penalty) but I'm not convinced (I deserve it)," Uematsu said.
The Yokohama District Court ruled on 16 March that Uematsu is competent to be held criminally liable for his actions, in which 26 people were injured in addition to the 19 killed.
"I think it is wrong to continue my trial at higher courts. I have found my own answer," Uematsu said, adding he feels "heavy-hearted" when he thinks of how difficult it will be for him to receive visitors once his death sentence has been finalized.
Uematsu expressed no regrets about making discriminatory remarks about people with severe disabilities at court hearings.
"I don't think I'm saying something wrong...(Those severely disabled people) have no right to complain even if they were killed," he said.
In the trial, he said disabled people who cannot communicate their thoughts "create unhappiness in society."