Japan ‘Twitter killer’ sentenced to death for serial murders

Takahiro Shiraishi (Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News/AP)

A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for killing and dismembering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media.

The Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court found Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer,” guilty of killing, dismembering and storing the bodies of the victims in his flat in Zama, near Tokyo.