Sasebo Slashing - The Murder

The Murder

On June 1, 2004, the 11-year-old schoolgirl murdered her 12-year-old classmate, Satomi Mitarai, in an otherwise empty classroom during the lunch hour at Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo. She left Mitarai's body at the murder scene and returned to her own classroom, her clothes covered in blood. The girls' teacher, who had noticed that both were missing, found the body and called the police.

After being taken into custody, she was reported as confessing to the crime, saying "I am sorry, I am sorry" to police. She spent the night at the police station, often crying at times, and refused to eat anything. She was offered snacks, but refused to eat them. Eventually, she ate bread and drank juice. However, she initially mentioned no motive. Shortly afterward, she confessed to police that she and Mitarai had fallen out as a result of messages left on the Internet. She claimed that Mitarai slandered her by commenting on her weight and calling her a "goody-goody."

On September 15, 2004, a Japanese Family Court ruled to institutionalize her, putting aside her young age because of the severity of the crime. She was sent to a reformatory in Tochigi prefecture. The Nagasaki family court in 2004 originally sentenced her to two years of involuntary commitment, but it sentenced her to an additional two years of involuntary commitment in September 2006. On May 29, 2008, local authorities announced that they did not seek her additional sentence.