TOKYO – A Japanese appeals court reduced on Thursday the death sentence of a Peruvian man convicted of killing six people to life in prison.

The Tokyo High Court issued the ruling in the case of Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludena, a court official said on customary condition of anonymity.

The Saitama District Court had found him guilty in March last year.

Nakada was charged with breaking into three homes in Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo, in 2015 and killing six people over several days, including two children aged 7 and 10.

Lawyers had sought an acquittal, saying he was mentally ill and not fit to stand trial.

During his arrest, Nakada threw himself off the second floor of a house and slashed himself on the arm several times.

Japanese media reports said he was muttering nonsensical things and expressed fears about getting killed.

Executions in Japan are by hanging.

Prosecutors had argued that Nakada was aware of what he was doing.

The police handling of the case had been criticized because Nakada had been questioned by police, but then allowed him to escape, after which he went on to kill more people.

He was convicted of killing a couple in their 50s in one house and an 84-year-old woman in another home. In the third home, where he was arrested, he killed a 41-year-old woman and her two daughters, according to the court ruling.

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