A grandfather with Alzheimer's kills his granddaughter... and the Japanese are divided between condemning him and pitying him!

Japan recently witnessed a strange murder of a 16-year-old girl, at the hands of her 88-year-old grandfather, who had Alzheimer's disease.

After Susumu Tomizawa admitted last month in a court in western Japan to the murder of his granddaughter Tomomi two years ago, he confirmed that he had no recollection of committing the crime.

During the trial, Tomizawa's lawyers requested that he be acquitted of the murder because he suffers from Alzheimer's disease, but they did not succeed in convincing the court, which issued a prison sentence of 4 and a half years, for the charge of premeditated murder.

On the night of September 9, 2020, the court heard that Tomizawa, who was living with Tomomi in his home in Fukui, entered into an argument with his granddaughter that ended with his teenage murder by stabbing with a knife, and as soon as the crime was completed, he called the victim's brother and told him that he found her body covered in blood.

Tomizawa's mental state sparked controversy in court, with the team representing the dead man asserting that he was conscious when he committed the crime, and that he did so intentionally.

Doctors who subjected Tomizawa to evaluation issued a report in which they confirmed that he is able to control his actions, and has the ability to judge right and wrong, CNN reported.

After the evaluation, Judge Yoshinobu Kawamura issued his verdict stating that Tomizawa had Alzheimer's, but that he was able to assess his actions, and therefore was responsible for them.

After the verdict was issued, the opinions of Japanese society, especially doctors, were divided between supporters and opponents, with one group asserting that Tomizawa was responsible for his actions, while others considered the verdict unfair given the killer's mental illness.

Commenting on the controversial ruling, Jacob Rajesh, chief forensic psychiatrist at Promise Healthcare in Singapore, said: "In advanced cases of Alzheimer's patients, it is difficult to say they are responsible for their actions. The crimes in which dementia patients are involved are very complex."

Rajesh added: "An important question is also, does compassion for a convicted person with dementia conflict with society's perception of justice?"

"Japan's prisons are full of elderly inmates who suffer from dementia. Their number is increasing and we have to take various measures to address this," said Koichi Hamae, a criminal justice expert and professor of law at Japan's Ryokoku University in Kyoto.

Japan has the largest elderly population in the world, with more than 20 percent of the country's population over the age of 65.

Government figures indicate that there are more than 4.6 million people in Japan suffering from dementia.

Violent crimes committed by Japanese with dementia are rare, but in 2014 a 72-year-old man with dementia strangled an 82-year-old woman and was sentenced to a reduced three-year prison term because of his health.

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