OTSU, SHIGA PREF. ¨C A 36-year-old man has admitted to murdering a hogoshi private-sector volunteer probation officer in charge of him in 2024, though his defense team argues that he is not mentally competent to bear responsibility for the crime.
In the first hearing of a lay-judge trial, held Tuesday at the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture, the defendant, Kohei Iitsuka, said, ¡°It¡¯s true. I did it (the murder), following the voice of my guardian deity.¡±
The defense claimed that the defendant was not mentally competent or was in a state of diminished capacity, saying that he was ¡°under the control of the voice inside his head at the time.¡±
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