'Kobe Cannibal' Issei Sagawa, who killed and ate body parts of Dutch woman, dies in Japan aged 73

Known largely as the 'Kobe Cannibal', Issei Sagawa, who was charged with killing, raping and consuming body parts of a Dutch student in Paris, has died in Japan aged 73.

Hyderabad: Japanese criminal Issei Sagawa, who gained the moniker 'Kobe Cannibal' for killing, raping, and subsequently consuming body parts of a Dutch student, has died at the age of 73, as per a statement from his brother and a friend.

Sagawa passed away due to pneumonia back on November 24, with his last rites attended solely by relatives and close family members, and no public ceremony is planned for the same, it further informed.

During his time in Paris in 1981, Sagawa invited Dutch student Renee Hartevelt to his room where he shot her in the neck, raped her and over the next few days ate parts of her body. He was caught while trying to dispose of body parts in the Bois de Boulogne park.

He confessed his actions several days later to police, but, significantly, was not awarded any sentence for his actions as clinical professionals in France deemed him 'medically unfit' to stand trial. After a short time under psychiatric evaluation, Sagawa was sent back to Japan in 1983.

Despite the Hartvelt family saying they would try for his prosecution in Japan claiming he 'would never go free', authorities in the country termed Sagawa's case to be that of a 'character anomaly' and that he did not require further medical attention.

Mismatch of details between the French and Japanese cops when the latter sought files from their European counterparts who had, by then, closed the case resulted in the killer walking scot-free within a short time.

The incident witnessed many inclusions in pop culture in following years, as the 'Kobe Cannibal' appeared in various interviews seemingly without any remorse for his actions. Sagawa went as far as writing a novel titled 'In the Fog', where he recounted details of the murder, as well as appearing in several media interviews.

Other features of his work included nude pictures of women, and contributing to a traditional Japanese comic which detailed the crime in all its gore. He spent final years of his life wheelchair-bound after a series of illnesses including a stroke, staying with his brother, yet not showing any remorse.