Mamoru Takuma

The execution of Takuma, 40, took place with unusual speed, less than a year after his death sentence was finalized for the attack at Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.

The Justice Ministry announced the hangings of two men but in keeping with its usual practice did not disclose their identities.

Media, however, said the two were Takuma, 40, and Sueo Shimazaki, a 59-year-old former gang leader sentenced to death for killing three other gangsters in 1988.

Takuma, an unemployed man who had previously received treatment for mental illness, pleaded guilty to the killings and to injuring 13 other children and two teachers at the school. He was sentenced to death in August 2003.

Seven girls and a boy were killed in June 2001 when he burst into a classroom and began slashing the children at random with a long knife. One of the dead children was aged 6. The rest were 7-year-olds.

Takuma, who told a court hearing he wanted to pay for the crime with his life, had withdrawn an appeal filed by his defense lawyers.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 18, 2004
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