Seisaku Nakamura

Seisaku Nakamura (中村 誠策, Nakamura Seisaku, ca.1924 - ca.1943) was a Japanese man convicted for serial killings in his teenage years. He is also known as Hamamatsu Deaf Killer. He was convicted of stabbing to death at least nine people, including several teenagers, in the Shizuoka Prefecture. The book, Senzen no Shōnen Hanzai (戦前の少年犯罪), which included the subject of the incident, was published in October 2007.

Early life

Seisaku Nakamura was born deaf. He was intelligent, achieving high marks at school, but was treated poorly by his family and was a social misfit. He enjoyed films where men used Japanese swords to assassinate people.

Murders

According to his testimony, on August 22, 1938, he attempted to rape two women; they resisted him, so he murdered them. He was 14 years old at that time. However, the two murders are often excluded from his serial murders.

On August 18, 1941, at the age of 17, Seisaku Nakamura killed a third woman and injured a fourth. On August 20, 1941, three more people were found dead, murdered by Nakamura. On September 27, 1941, he murdered his brother, and injured his father, his sister, his brother's wife and his brother's child. On August 30, 1942, he murdered a couple, their daughter, and their son, and attempted to rape another daughter.

Information about his crimes were restricted because many thought news about his crimes would cause excessive trouble during the already tense war time, so Nakamura went unapprehended for longer than he might have otherwise. His family knew that he was responsible for the deaths but were afraid of revenge and did not come forward.

Arrest, trial, and execution

He was arrested for nine murders on October 12, 1942. He also admitted two others. On November 11, his father Fumisada Nakamura (中村 文貞, Nakamura Fumisada) committed suicide. He was tried as an adult under the Wartime Law (戦時刑事特別法, Senji Keiji Tokubetsu Hō). The doctors claimed that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. However, the trial proceeded rapidly and he was executed soon after.

The book, Senzen no Shōnen Hanzai (戦前の少年犯罪, "Youth Crime in Prewar Japan"), which included discussed the incident, was published in October 2007.

See also

• (Japanese) Japanese Wikipedia entry on the serial murders case