The Nagasaki Family Court decided Wednesday to conduct psychiatric tests on a 12-year-old boy suspected of murdering a 4-year-old boy.
At the first hearing in the case, presiding Judge Hiroko Ito accepted a request for the tests from the boy's lawyers, who on Tuesday stressed the need to determine why the crime took place.
Following the decision, the hearings, originally scheduled to run through Aug. 8, will be suspended. How the case proceeds will be decided on the basis of the test results and a court investigation.
According to judicial authorities, it is rare for a youth under 14 -- the youngest age at which one can be criminally prosecuted -- to undergo psychiatric tests.