Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for a 32-year-old Peruvian man accused of killing six people, including two girls, after breaking into their suburban homes north of Tokyo in 2015.
Lawyers defending Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludena at the Saitama District Court argue he is not mentally fit to stand trial.
Nakada Ludena broke into three homes in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, in September 2015 to steal money and valuable items and killed the occupants, according to the indictment.
The victims were Minoru Tasaki, 55, his wife, Misae, 53, Kazuyo Shiraishi, 84, and 41-year-old Miwako Kato and her two daughters, 10-year-old Misaki and 7-year-old Haruka.
Nakada Ludena was arrested on Oct. 8 the same year in connection with the deaths of the Tasakis, after being hospitalized following his plunge from a second-floor window at Kato's home on Sept. 16. Police subsequently served him with further arrest warrants related to the other victims.
Prosecutors said his actions were "extremely cruel and merciless" and "it can be rationally surmised that he broke into the houses to steal money and goods and killed to eliminate obstacles."
"The defendant hasn't shown regret or even the least sense of propriety. This makes me furious," Kato's 45-year-old husband said at the trial.
