published12. June 2022, 20:55
In a controversial court case in Japan, an 88-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s has been sentenced to four years in prison. The accused had stabbed his granddaughter (16). But the judge found him sane.
In September 2020, the man stabbed his then 16-year-old granddaughter Tomomi.
ANN News
The case sparked controversy in Japan: the judge ruled that Tomizawa, despite having Alzheimer’s, was able to judge right and wrong.
ANN News
88-year-old Susumu Tomizawa was convicted of murder by a court in the city of Fukui, western Japan. The pensioner had stabbed his 16-year-old granddaughter Tomomi. However, the fact that Tomizawa suffers from Alzheimer’s and stated in the trial that he could not remember the crime was not an argument for the judge to acquit him. Susumu Tomizawa has to go to prison for four and a half years, despite his advanced age and his progressive dementia.
The case shocked the country: the grandfather, who lived in the same house with his granddaughter, got into an argument with the teenager on the night of September 9, 2020. In court, Tomizawa admitted to drinking heavily. Drunk, he got a 17 centimeter kitchen knife, entered Tomomi’s bedroom and repeatedly stabbed the 16-year-old in the neck. Shortly thereafter, he called his eldest son and said he found Tomomi’s body covered in blood.
Focus on grandfather’s mental state
During the court hearings, which were broadcast live, Tomizawa’s mental state took center stage. Coroners, lawyers and judges debated whether or not the man with Alzheimer’s knowingly killed his granddaughter.
Prosecutors said the elderly man was able to control his actions and, despite his illness, “had the ability to judge right and wrong.” Forensic psychiatrist Hiroki Nakagawa agreed with the prosecution: He stated in court that Tomizawa had a motive for the murder. “His actions were purposeful and consistent with his intent to kill,” he said.
This made the case clear for Judge Yoshinobu Kawamura: Tomizawa was suffering from Alzheimer’s, according to the judge in his verdict, but “the defendant was not in a state in which he was unable to judge right and wrong or to dissuade you from committing the crime.”
How should cases of people with dementia be judged?
Susumu Tomizawa’s case sparked debate in Japan about how to deal with Alzheimer’s sufferers. “Japanese prisons are full of elderly inmates suffering from dementia,” Koichi Hamai, a criminal law expert at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, told the US broadcaster CNN. Ascending trend.
According to official figures, more than 20 percent of the population in Japan is over 65 years old. According to statistics, 4.6 million people are living with Alzheimer’s. Experts assume that this number will increase significantly as the country ages rapidly. Problems such as aggression towards caregivers and domestic violence are often reported in this type of patient.
While violent crimes by dementia patients are rare, when they do occur they are extremely complex to assess. “How much of their behavior can we explain in terms of the disease itself, as opposed to other motives such as anger or retaliation?” asks psychologist Jason Frizzell. “How can we reasonably judge someone who in a few years could be completely debilitated by his illness? Is sympathy for a convicted person with dementia at odds with society’s sense of justice?”
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