Twitter killer
When my eye first noted a BBC headline declaring Twitter killer
, I thought it was about a new rival to the messaging app for the brain dead. But this is an altogether more macabre story.
Takahiro Shiraishi has pleaded guilty to murdering nine people, after body parts were found in his flat. He contacted his victims on Twitter, by soliciting women who were contemplating suicide. According to his legal team, he should be spared the death penalty on the basis that they allegedly gave consent to be killed. Surprisingly, the defendant has rebuffed that line of defence by claiming that he killed them without their consent.
But the case for murder might be clearer at least for one victim. Although eight of the victims were women that he lured on Twitter, one was a man who was killed after confronting Mr Shiraishi about the whereabouts of his girlfriend
, according to Japanese media.
The BBC's report doesn't clarify how Shiraishi's legal team plan to whitewash that one.
On Takahiro Shiraishi's execution, Kelly Ng takes time to rehash the story. But not quite.
Shiraishi later admitted to murdering nine suicidal victims and revealed that he got acquainted with them on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.
Kelly Ng, BBC News
Oh dear, she should have taken time to confer with the news droid from four-and-a-half years ago:
Eight of his victims were female, one of them aged 15. The only male victim, aged 20, was killed after confronting Mr Shiraishi about the whereabouts of his girlfriend, Japanese media reported.
BBC News droid, (01.10.2020)
So, eight victims were assisted suicides
—not really—and one was overt murder from the get-go. BBC Verify has not been contacted for comment.