Tokyo: A MAN will stand trial over the brutal stabbing deaths of 19 people at a disability centre in Japan last year -- the nation's bloodiest crime in decades -- media reported yesterday.
Satoshi Uematsu claimed he was on a self-styled mission to rid the world of people with mental illness when he allegedly carried out the attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care centre south of Tokyo on July 26.
The mass killing at the facility in mountainous Sagamihara city in Kanagawa prefecture shocked Japan and sparked a review of the country's mental health system.
The Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Uematsu for killing 19 residents and attempting to kill or injure 24 others at the centre, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Uematsu, who once worked at the facility, had previously been under psychiatric care and had made public threats against the centre.
The 27-year-old experienced a "personality disorder" but psychological reviews have suggested he is fit for trial, media including Jiji Press said, citing unnamed investigators.
Uematsu allegedly broke into the centre, tied up caregivers and roamed the facility stabbing sleeping residents and leaving them in pools of blood, authorities have said.
