AIZUWAKAMATSU, Fukushima -- A schoolboy who brutally murdered his mother and then lopped off her head in a case that shocked Japan "clearly suffers mental instability and is not capable of taking responsibility for his actions," a psychiatric evaluation given to a court here said.

The report handed in to the Aizuwakamatsu Branch of the Fukushima Family Court conflicts with an evaluation prosecutors commissioned that found the now 18-year-old was not suffering from a mental illness.

The court must now view the two reports on the teen's mental state and decide whether to keep him under its supervision or return him to prosecutors for trial as an adult.

Prosecutors are keen to pursue charges against the teen, who can't be named in accordance with the Juvenile Law as he is a minor.

In October last year, the Aizuwakamatsu branch of the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office sent the teen to the court with the recommendation that he be sent through the criminal justice system.

Sources said the latest evaluation of the teen was carried out by a child psychiatry expert who gave the teen a more thorough inspection than the first round of tests carried out on him. The psychiatrist compiled a roughly 50-page report on the boy that pointed out factors such as the environment in which he grew up and his development disabilities, with a finding that he was "clearly mentally ill." The psychiatrist's opinion was that the teen was either mentally incompetent or very close to it at the time he killed his mother in May last year.

Prosecutors acknowledge that the boy has minor disabilities, but say that these did not affect his ability to take responsibility for his actions.

In May last year, the then third-year high school student went to his mother's apartment and stabbed her to death. He then hacked off her head and carried it with him to a police station, where he handed himself over to the police.

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