Kato, 27, a former temporary worker, was charged
with killing seven people and injuring 10 others in the busy Akihabara
shopping district in Chiyoda Ward in the Japanese city in
Forty-two people, including victims and witnesses,
will be called to testify in the trial, which is likely to take about a
year until the verdict is handed down.
According to the district court, the trial will
focus on whether Kato was mentally competent at the time of the crime
and if so, the resultant level of responsibility that he bore. Another
issue is whether it will be established that Kato obstructed officers
from performing their duties based on his actions against police
officers who tried to seize him.
In contrast to prosecutors’ arguments that Kato bore
full criminal responsibility based on the outcome of psychiatric
examinations, the defense is likely to insist Kato was mentally
incompetent or possessed diminished capacity due to some sort of mental
disorder.
As the defense did not agree with the deposition of
the victims and witnesses, 36 prosecution witnesses as well as six
people put forward by the defense, including Kato’s family members,
will take the stand during the trial. The prosecution’s witnesses
include all 10 people who were injured in the attack and doctors who
conducted Kato’s psychiatric examinations.
Twenty-two hearings have been scheduled for the trial, which will open on
Kato was indicted on
on charges of stabbing to death seven passersby and knocking down and
injuring 10 people with a truck he drove through a crowded intersection
near
—
(c) 2010, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
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