Schoolgirl killer says she was inspired by TV murder drama

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An 11-year-old girl who admitted to slashing 12-year-old fellow classmate Satomi Mitarai to death at school with a paper cutter has told prefectural police she decided to attack her victim after watching a television drama.

"I watched a TV drama and decided to try (to kill her)," the 11-year-old, who cannot be named because of her age, was quoted as telling police.

The girl, who was taken into custody after the attack on Tuesday, reportedly told police she had planned to kill Satomi four days earlier, and investigators said it was possible scenes in the drama had sparked the attack with the paper cutter.

"I wonder why I did it. If I thought and acted properly it wouldn't have happened. I would like to apologize (to Satomi if I could). . ."

The drama, titled "Getsuyo Misuterii Gekijo 'Hosutesu Tantei Kiki Ippatsu'" (Monday mystery theater 'the hostess detectives' close call') was broadcast last Monday from about 9 p.m. Through the two-hour installments of the series, three hostesses in a club in Tokyo's Ginza district work together to solve crimes.

In the show on Monday, a real-estate boss and his lover are killed. A total of five victims are attacked on the street in the show, and including flashback scenes, eight scenes portray people being attacked with paper cutters.

The 11-year-old girl under arrested reportedly told police that she had decided to attack Satomi in the same way.

"I saw that drama. I thought I'd do it that way," she was quoted as telling investigators.

Investigators said that on Tuesday afternoon, when the girl sat Satomi down in a chair and cut her throat with a paper cutter, she stood behind Satomi and covered her face with her hand.

Police also quoted the girl as saying, "I had thought of other ways to kill her apart from using a paper cutter."

During a news conference on Thursday, lawyers for the girl, including Mitsuo Hazama and Nozomu Kawazoe, said the 11-year-old had begun to question her actions.

"I wonder why I did it. If I thought and acted properly it wouldn't have happened. I would like to apologize (to Satomi if I could)," the girl was quoted as saying.

Hazama and Kawazoe met and talked with her for about one hour from 9 a.m.

"I had thought of other ways to kill her apart from using a paper cutter."

The lawyers said she had begun exchanging messages with her victim and another girl on the Internet from about April, but in about the middle of May, something had upset her. She had also reportedly been upset by notes that were being circulated.

When questioned by police, the 11-year-old reportedly said there was no other trouble between her and Satomi besides the notes and Internet messages. She reportedly said she had not told anyone about the way she was feeling.

Lawyers said the girl had clearly answered questions directed at her and that there appeared to be no need for a psychiatric examination. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 3, 2004)