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Criminals have to come up with some pretty extravagant excuses for why they commit crimes. Sometimes, their reasons are really out there. Take the Oscar Pistorius case, for example. He acknowledges that he fired the shots that killed his girlfriend, but claims that he thought he was protecting her from a possible intruder. It’s then up to the courts to determine whether or not the defense’s theory holds any water. But what do you do when the working theory is, “Amaterasu, the sun goddess, told me to kill my mother.”

No, this isn’t a joke. A 39-year-old Fukuoka man was charged with manslaughter for the killing of his mother. While, all the evidence pointed straight at the defendant, on October 20, the ruling came down, “Not Guilty“.

The presiding judge said that a mental disorder caused the unemployed defendant to have “wild” thoughts which caused him to commit the crime. He also stated that at the time of the crime, due to his mental condition, the man’s actions were entirely not his own, it was like he wasn’t even there.

How did they determine the man’s mental state? What barometer did they use to judge whether or not all his mental faculties were in the right place? The defense simply asked him. When prompted for his reasons for killing his mother, he responded by claiming that Amaterasu, goddess of the sun in Shinto mythology, made him commit the crime.

▼Seen here shining a light on the situation.

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The man also believed that if he killed his mom, she would come back to life. Even if she did return to the living, that doesn’t sound like a conversation you’d want to have with your mother, no matter how much she loves you.

For some people, when a god talks to you, it’s in your best interest to pay attention. But whenever those instructions include harming another human being, maybe you should be seeking a different authority, like a psychiatrist, for help. We hope this man will now be getting the attention and help that he needs.

Source: livedoor news
Images: Ace Attorney Wikia, Wikipedia