Baby-killer pursues insanity plea
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Katsunao Ujiie
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Defense lawyers representing a 34-year-old man accused of stabbing an 11-month-old baby to death at a supermarket in Aichi Prefecture in February argued April 28 that their client should be acquitted, claiming he was insane at the time of the crime.
Unemployed Katsunao Ujiie did not enter a plea at the opening session of his trial at the Nagoya District Court, stating only that he had "left everything up to the lawyers."
His lawyers then told the court that Ujiie should be judged innocent because he was mentally incompetent when he stabbed Shoma Aoyama to death at the Ito-Yokado store in Anjo on Feb. 4.
Ujiie is also accused of injuring the boy's 3-year-old sister and a 24-year-old woman who was near the scene.
Ujiie reportedly told police that he had been hearing voices saying "kill yourself" and "kill someone" before embarking on the rampage.
The Japan Times Weekly: May 7, 2005 (C) All rights reserved
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