Lawyers for a man accused of fatally stabbing a former health ministry bureaucrat and his wife and wounding another asked the court Wednesday to conduct a thorough mental analysis of their client.
The request by the lawyers for Takeshi Koizumi, 47, came during his fourth trial session before the Saitama District Court following a statement in the previous session that bewildered the public.
In the Nov. 26 session, Koizumi told the court he killed "beasts," not humans, as he explained his motives for fatally stabbing former vice health minister Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife, Michiko, 61, at their home in the city of Saitama on Nov. 17 last year.
Koizumi is also charged with the attempted murder of Yasuko Yoshihara, 73, the wife of another former vice health minister, at the couple's Tokyo home the next day.