As we predicted earlier, the Kyoto District Court today sentenced, Shinji Aobathe arsonist who attacked the animation studio Kyoto Animation in July 2019, at Death penalty.
Shinji Aobanow 45 years old, broke into Studio 1 of Kyoto Animation on the morning of July 18, 2019, he spread gasoline, lit it and shouted “drop dead,” survivors said. 36 people died and 33 were injured.
Aoba, who was arrested near the scene with 90% of his body burned and subjected to 12 operations, faced five charges, including murder, attempted murder and arson. His lawyers pleaded not guilty, saying he “lacked the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to stop crime due to a mental disorder”.
He admitted that he purposely attacked the anime studio as an act of revenge for what he considered plagiarism of a novel he had sent to Kyoto Animation as part of an essay competition.
Among the people who died was Yasuhiro Takemoto (directed by The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya), Yoshiji Kigami (key animator for Grave of the Fireflies, Akira, A Silent Voice, Violet Evergarden), Futoshi Nishiya (animation direction for Free!), Shouko Ikeda (character designer for Sound! Euphonium), and many more…
Before the start of your trial, when Aoba learned for the first time during police interrogation that the total number of deaths in the attack had been 36he reacted with “Oh, really?”, and stated “I thought if I spread gasoline around the building while lighting the fire, I could kill more people, so that’s why I did this”.
In addition to stating that he chose his method of attack specifically because he felt it would allow him to kill more people, throughout the trial Aoba stated that he continues to feel that he was wronged by Kyoto Animation and demonstrated a complete lack of remorse upon learning how many people died because of him.
This Thursday, the judge ruled that Aoba “was not insane or suffering from diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime”.
In its decision, the court cited the deliberate decision of Aoba of attacking the studio early in the business day when a large number of employees were expected to be inside the building, and the premeditated nature of purchasing and transporting the large quantity of gasoline used to the crime scene, concluding “There are no present circumstances under which the death penalty should be avoided”.
The demolition work on Studio 1 of Kyoto Animation it was completed in April 2020. The studio began recruiting again in July 2020.
