Prosecutors have demanded that a carpenter be sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a man and injuring two others with a Japanese sword in September.
Teruaki Tanabe, 59, is charged with murder, causing bodily injury, and obstructing official duties. The prosecution issued the demand against the self-employed man during a Niigata District Court session on Monday.
According to the indictment, Tanabe fatally stabbed Katsuya Fujisawa, a 28-year-old company employee, with a Japanese sword when he came to his home in Joetsu city, Niigata Prefecture, on the morning of Sept. 3.
Fujisawa made the visit with a court law-enforcement officer and the president of the company he was working for to demand that Tanabe hand over his house, which had been auctioned off. Tanabe also attacked and injured the officer and president.
Tanabe was also accused of obstructing the execution of official duties as he threatened law-enforcement officers, the court was told.
In demanding the life term, prosecutors said that the defendant committed an unprecedentedly heinous crime, for which he showed little remorse.