Tsutomu Miyazaki, convicted of murdering four girls aged 4 to 7 in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture in the late 1980s, was executed on Tuesday, Justice Ministry officials said.

Miyazaki, 45, was hanged at the Tokyo Detention Center two years and four months after his death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court and 20 years after he committed the first murder.

The focal point during his court hearings was whether he was mentally stable enough to be held responsible for his crimes.

He repeated incomprehensible statements during his court hearings.

"I feel as if I committed the crimes in my dreams," he said in one of his hearings.

"I was scared because a 'rat person' appeared. My alter ego suddenly appeared and committed the acts," he said on another occasion.

The results of psychiatric evaluations conducted on him during the district court trial were divided.

One psychiatrist said he could be held fully responsible for the crimes, even though he suffered a personality disorder. Another concluded that his ability to be held responsible for his crimes was limited because he suffered a multiple personality disorder. The other deemed that his criminal responsibility was limited because he suffered from schizophrenia.

In dismissing his appeal against the death sentence in February 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the main motives for his murders were based on his sexual desires and the desire to film his victims' corpses to make videos.

Miyazaki kidnapped a 4-year-old girl in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, in August 1988, murdered her in a mountain forest in Akiruno, western Tokyo, and burned her body, according to the ruling.

He also abducted a 7-year-old girl in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, in October 1988, and murdered her in Akiruno, the court found.

He was convicted of abducting another 4-year-old girl in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, in December of the same year, strangling her and abandoning her body in a forest.

He was also found guilty to abducting a 5-year-old girl in Koto-ku, Tokyo, in June the next year, murdering her and dumping her corpse. Moreover, he molested an elementary school girl in Hachioji, western Tokyo, in July of the same year, according to the ruling.

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