The death penalty for Mamoru Takuma, who stabbed eight...

The death penalty for Mamoru Takuma, who stabbed eight children to death and injured 15 others at Ikeda Primary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, in 2001, was finalised after he dismissed his lawyers' appeal of the sentence to the Osaka High Court. Takuma, 39, had been sentenced to death on August 28. Before the judgement had been handed down, Takuma was said to have told his lawyers that he did not want to live his life for nothing. According to sources, Takuma submitted a letter to the Osaka Detention House, indicating he wanted to withdraw the appeal to the higher court. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, a death sentence becomes effective when an accused person expresses his or her will to drop an appeal to the head of a detention center.