[1] Takuma had a long history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behaviour, and an extensive criminal record including a conviction for rape.

[2] He stabbed to death eight students and seriously wounded fifteen others at Ikeda Elementary School in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.

As a child, he displayed unusual and anti-social behavior: at the age of three, he rode his tricycle towards the center of a highway, causing traffic jams, and habitually killed small animals by wrapping them in newspaper and lighting them on fire.

He later wrote to his mother that he was hospitalized to avoid being pursued by the police in a rape case and jumped off the fifth floor to "harass his parents".

His father refused, citing Takuma's lack of remorse, and told him that he would hand over the money he traded in for his personal belongings to disown him.

On 3 March 1999, Takuma dissolved temazepam, a tranquilizer, into the tea served in the teachers' room, sending four people to the hospital for three days.

He managed to get a job as a taxi driver in September 2000, but was fired the following month after he assaulted a hotel bellhop in Osaka, breaking his nose.

In November 2000, Takuma got a job as a truck driver at a construction materials company in Ikeda, but was fired a few months later due to problems including a road rage incident.

On 8 June 2001, the day of his court hearing for the bellhop assault case, Takuma went on a murderous rampage at Ikeda Elementary School.

He was described as being in an extremely confused state when arrested, at first repeating, "I went to the elementary school", and then saying, "I went to the train station and stabbed 100 people with my knife.

Takuma stated he "drank ten times the medicine" immediately after his arrest and a subsequent medical examination was performed on him.

Even in the instance all of these medications are taken at ten times their standard prescribed dose, they are more likely to cause somnolence or sedation, not psychotic behavior.

In court, he engaged in intentionally provocative behavior, including yawning, shaking his body, and staring at victims' family members.

"[16] On the last day of the trial, Takuma still expressed no guilt or remorse and continued to insult the victims' families until the judge removed him.