http://www.latimes.com/wires/20010707/tCB00V0141.html
Stabbing Suspect to Get Mental Test
Saturday, July 7, 2001

Stabbing Suspect to Get Mental Test

    TOKYO-- A Japanese court on Saturday approved a psychiatric
evaluation of the suspect in a knife attack at an elementary school in
western Japan that killed eight children, news reports said.
    The Osaka District Court approval allows prosecutors to keep Mamoru
Takuma, 37, in custody for three months to determine his competency to
take criminal responsibility for the crime, Kyodo News agency reported.
    The court and the Osaka District Public Prosecutors office were
closed Saturday.
    Takuma was arrested for allegedly slashing eight schoolchildren to
death and injuring 13 other children and two teachers after storming into
the Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka on June 8.
    Police have quoted the accused killer, a former janitor with a
history of mental illness, as saying that he wanted to be put to death for
the crime.
    After the three-month psychiatric evaluation, prosecutors will decide
whether Takuma can be charged with murder and attempted murder.
    Takuma was accused in 1999 of slipping tranquilizers into the tea of
four teachers at the school where he worked as a janitor. Diagnosed as a
schizophrenic, he was never charged and was sent to a mental hospital. He
was later released.
    The school attack shocked Japan and prompted calls for increased
school security.

Copyright © 2001 Los Angeles Times