Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for a man accused of killing two children and wounding another in Hiroo, southern Hokkaido, in August.
Kazuyuki Oikawa, 24, was indicted on charges of stabbing to death a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old and injuring a 7-year-old, while robbing the house of a company employee.
During Oikawa's trial Monday at the Obihiro branch of the Kushiro District Court, prosecutors called for the death penalty. "The grief of the parents who had lovingly nurtured their children is beyond our imagination," they said.
According to the indictment, Oikawa entered his neighbor Hajime Kikuchi's house around 2:25 p.m. Aug. 8. After stealing six pieces of underwear, he tried to flee, but he was seen by Kikuchi's eldest daughter, Kazumi, and the two other children.
Oikawa allegedly inflicted a minor injury on Kazumi by stabbing her with a small box cutter and fatally stabbed Kikuchi's daughter, Masami, and son, Tetsuya, with a knife he took from the kitchen.