KOBE -- A 15-year-old boy who was sent to a correctional facility for killing two children and assaulting three others was allowed March 13 to graduate from his junior high school in Kobe.

The boy, then 14, was arrested June 28 last year over the slaying of 11-year-old Jun Hase in Kobe on May 24. The boy, who cannot be named, beheaded Hase the following day and placed his decapitated head at the gate of Tomogaoka Junior High School, where he was a student.

Nobuyoshi Iwata, principal of the school, made the decision to allow the boy to graduate. He is now held at a juvenile medical institution in Fuchu, Tokyo. Authorities at the institution had requested that he be allowed to graduate.

A total of 239 students graduated from the school March 13. According to those who attended the ceremony, none of the students who made speeches touched on the murder incident.

However, in his speech the principal said the school was able to overcome a difficult situation because of unity among teachers and students, both groups said. A third-year male student who arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. said he wanted to forget the incident.

The boy involved in the two killings did not appear in the graduation photo album or in the list of names of graduating students.