According to Japanese media, a guy who was found guilty of murdering seven people with a knife during a hysterical attack in Tokyo 14 years ago has been put to death.
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Authorities in Japan report that a sick loner who murdered seven people during a rampage in Tokyo in June 2008 has finally been given the death penalty.
Tomohiro Kato, who was 25 at the time and the culprit of the Akhariba Massacre, had several mental health problems, some of which were a result of his oppressive upbringing.
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On June 8, at noon, Kato plowed a leased five-ton truck into a crowd of onlookers in the city's center, leaving three people dead and two injured.
Then, in a fit of rage, he got out of his truck and stabbed 12 more people, killing four more before being caught.
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The brutality of Kato's act and his background in a respected family shocked Japan's conservative population, although there were clear clues that the young man was troubled.
Kato was a brilliant student in both academics and athletics during his time in school, but he struggled with his controlling parents, who ridiculed him for not working hard enough in his studies.
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After his arrest, Kato's brother alleged that his father had repeatedly left him outside overnight in the middle of the winter and had regularly made Kato eat food crumbs off the floor as a punishment for poor grades.
On June 5, 2008, Kato finally lost it.
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He made several ill posts on a Japanese social media platform after becoming convinced that he was going to lose his job.
He said: "I will kill people in Akihabara if only I had a girlfriend. I would never have become addicted to my mobile phone. Anybody with hope couldn't possibly understand how I feel."
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After apologizing and saying he "would like to apologize to those who passed away, the injured, and their families" three days later, he was condemned to death in 2011. He had previously killed seven people.
The death sentence is debatable in Japan since inmates on death row are only given a brief warning before being hanged, leaving them no time to contact their lawyers to appeal.
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