A German tourist indicted for attempted murder admitted Wednesday to stabbing a Japanese man in a random attack on a street in Nagasaki last year during his first court hearing.
But lawyers for Tobias Gross, 25, told the Nagasaki District Court that they will contest his criminal responsibility, claiming the crime was committed under the influence of alcohol causing a "different personality to come to the fore."
Prosecutors rejected the defense, although they acknowledged the defendant was drunk when he stabbed the man several times in the neck in the early hours of Aug. 3, 2017.
According to the indictment, Gross also caused a minor fire by lighting a shirt in his hotel room before going outside and assaulting the man, who was in his 50s.