Mamoru Takuma

Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守[a], Takuma Mamoru, 23 November 1963 – 14 September 2004) was a Japanese mass murderer who killed 8 people in the Osaka school massacre in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture on 8 June 2001.[1]

Mamoru Takuma
Born
Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守)

(1963-11-23)November 23, 1963
Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
DiedSeptember 14, 2004(2004-09-14) (aged 40)
Osaka, Japan
Cause of deathExecution by hanging at 8:16 am on 14 September 2004
OccupationJanitor
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
DateJune 8, 2001
10:15 a.m.
Location(s)Ikeda, Osaka, Japan
Target(s)Ikeda Elementary School
Killed8
Injured15
WeaponsKitchen knife

Takuma had a long history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behavior, and an extensive criminal record including a conviction for rape.[2] Takuma stabbed eight students aged between 7 and 8 years-old to death and seriously wounding 15 students and staff at Ikeda Elementary School in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.

Takuma was convicted in August 2003 and executed on 14 September 2004.

Early life

Mamoru Takuma was born on 23 November 1963 in Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As a child, Takuma displayed unusual and anti-social behavior, including blocking traffic on highways and setting fire to cats. During his second year of high school, Takuma reportedly attacked a teacher and ran away from home for several months. Takuma dropped out of school and got into a physical confrontation with his father, who tried to seek psychiatric help for him as a result. After the hospital refused to treat Takuma, his father disowned him. Takuma worked at a gas station for several months until enlisting in the Japan Air Self Defense Force, but was discharged a year later for having sexual intercourse with a minor. In 1984, Takuma and his mother left his family house and purchased an apartment, leaving his oldest brother and father by themselves. They lived together for a year and a half, until his father came back for his wife.[3]

Criminal history

In November 1984, Takuma was arrested for raping a woman while collecting rent for a condominium management company, and sentenced to three years in prison.[4][2] Takuma was detained at a juvenile detention center in Nara from 1986 to 1989. Takuma was also arrested for driving his car in reverse gear on the Hanshin Expressway but released after he was found mentally unfit. After his release from prison, Takuma moved to Ikeda and found work as a bus driver and garbage truck driver. Takuma's coworkers described him as a quiet and unremarkable man, but a bit of a loner who did not like dealing with customers.[3] In 1998, Takuma was fired after assaulting a passenger over the smell of her perfume. Takuma found a new job as maintenance man at Itami Elementary School, 6 kilometers away from Ikeda.

On 3 March 1999, Takuma dissolved some of his own tranquilizer, temazepam, into the tea served in the teachers' room at Itami Elementary School, sending 4 people to the hospital. Takuma was arrested and sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and later jumped from the roof of the psychiatric hospital in an attempt to commit suicide but failed. After one month's treatment, Takuma was judged to be "capable of taking care of himself". After his release from the psychiatric hospital, Takuna continued to display odd behavior, stating that he was a survivor of the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash.[3] In November 1999, Takuma was arrested on suspicion of entering a private home, but the charges were dropped. Takuma managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired on October 16 after he assaulted a hotel bellhop in Osaka and broke the bellhop's nose. Takuma was also kicked out of several apartments for, among other things, throwing his garbage out from the balcony. On 23 May 2001, Takuma voluntarily admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital for depression, but left the next day without treatment.

Takuma was arrested at least eleven times and had married four times before June 2001. In October 1998, Takuma was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his ex-wife.

Massacre
Main article: Osaka school massacre

On 8 June 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellhop assault case, Takuma went on a murderous rampage in the Ikeda Elementary School where he had worked as a janitor. Takuma began to attack students and staff with a kitchen knife until he was wrestled down by staff within minutes. In the quick attack, Takuma killed eight students (seven 8-year-old girls and one 7-year-old boy) and seriously wounded thirteen other children and two teachers. Takuma 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."[5]

Takuma 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。」[6]
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. I wanted to be caught and be given a death sentence."[7]

Takuma also hated "elite" children who attended Ikeda Elementary School.[8]

Trial and execution

Takuma's lawyers argued that he was suffering from temporary insanity at the time of the attack, but the psychiatrist who had initially diagnosed Takuma as schizophrenic told the court he later determined that Takuma actually had paranoid personality disorder.[9][10] At one point, Takuma claimed to have been influenced by the Shimonoseki Station massacre that occurred two years earlier and sought to imitate it himself.

On August 28, 2003, Takuma was found guilty of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death.[11] Takuma remained unrepentant, refusing to apologize to the families of the victims, and asked only for the sentence to be fulfilled as fast as possible. In court, Takuma engaged in intentionally provocative behavior, including yawning, shaking his body, and staring at victims' family members. His statement was, "I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did."[12] On the last day of the trial, Takuma still expressed no guilt or remorse, and continued to insult the victims' families until the judge removed him. The sentence was carried out unusually quickly by Japanese standards (condemned prisoners in Japan usually spend many years on death row), and Takuma was executed by hanging only a year later at the Osaka Detention House on September 14, 2004.[13]

Influence

Takuma Kaoru Kobayashi, who had sexually assaulted and murdered seven-year-old girl Kaede Ariyama, considered Takuma as a charismatic murderer and sought speedy execution.[14]

Kobayashi said:

I want to be sentenced to death as quickly as possible, and leave a legacy among the public as the next Tsutomu Miyazaki or Mamoru Takuma.[15]

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See also

References
  1. "Japan mourns school victims". CNN. 2001-06-10. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  2. "Archived copy" 付属池田小事件裁判傍聴記 殺人鬼の素顔とは (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2008-06-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. 宅間守資料 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  4. "Takuma conceived of massacre in 1984". The Japan Times. 2002-07-26. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  5. "Motive for school stabbing unclear". Television New Zealand. 2001-06-13. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  6. ちゆ12歳 (2001-06-08). "教室に乱入、児童８人を刺殺". Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  7. "School massacre shatters Japan's sense of security". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. 2001-06-09. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  8. Ozawa, Harumi (2008-06-09). "Seven dead in street stabbing frenzy". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  9. "Suspect may suffer from personality disorder". The Japan Times. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  10. "Osaka massacre suspect Takuma not schizophrenic: psychiatrist". Kyodo News. March 28, 2002. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  11. "Death for Japanese school killer". BBC. 2003-08-28. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  12. "Quote Of The Day - I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did". Japan Today. Archived from the original on 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  13. "Japanese school killer executed". BBC. 2004-09-14. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  14. "Defendant admits abducting and killing schoolgirl in Nara". The Japan Times. 2005-04-19. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  15. "Defendant admits abducting and killing schoolgirl in Nara". The Japan Times. 2005-04-19. Archived from the original on 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
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