Spider-Man Raeps 11 in Rooftop Rampage

A man, so adept at scaling walls that he has been likened to Spider-Man, used his talent to climb up onto the high-rise verandas of 11 women, all of whom he ascertained to be living alone, in order to gain access to them and so sate his lust.

The unemployed man (41) was initially found to have scaled the walls of an apartment building, gaining access to the fifth floor residence of a 24-year-old lady, which he entered by way of the veranda.

He repeated his outrageous modus operandi on no less than 11 separate occasions, from 2005 to 2007, apparently whenever he felt the need, and always using the same basic method of threatening them with a knife. He also made off with cash.

The prosecution alleged that the man had honed his skills peeping, and from this he had come to know that female occupants of such high-rise residences rarely kept their verandas locked.

Using external fittings (pipes and so forth), he was able to scale the building easily enough, as if to reach fruit suspended from high boughs.

Once there, he would enter the residence and have his way with occupant, “wickedly repeating the process whenever he felt the need.”

The prosecution is scathing: “His victims were deeply shocked to find someone had invaded their homes by that most unlikely of routes, and the trauma these innocents have undergone as a result is truly unfathomable.” They seek a 25 year sentence and damages of ¥140,000.

The defence begs leniency: “At the time of his crimes, his ability to tell right from wrong was compromised.”

They also argue that as he apparently provided a written confession to all his crimes after being apprehended fro the first, he deserves mercy. However, the prosecution allege that the investigation was already well underway and he knew already he would be caught by way of CCTV and similar, so it cannot be considered ameliorating.

Sentencing is at the end of February.

Via NHK and Yomiuri.