OSAKA-- A psychiatrist who testified Thursday at the trial of Mamoru Takuma, the man charged with murdering eight children and injuring 15 other people at an Osaka primary school in June, cast doubt on Takuma's history of schizophrenia prior to the crime in question.

During the fourth session of the Osaka District Court trial, the psychiatrist, whose identity is being withheld, said that the defendant had spoken in a logical and calm manner when he had examined him during the 1990s. He said that Takuma had not not shown any schizophrenic symptoms during these examinations.

The psychiatrist had, however, diagnosed Takuma as neurotic when he treated him between 1998 and 1999. He quoted Takuma as saying that he could not stop worrying and that small things in the past kept nagging at him.

Takuma, 38, had visited the hospital at which the psychiatrist worked in 1994.

The psychiatrist said that, based on Takuma's medical history, he had determined that Takuma had a strong tendency toward antisocial ideas and behavior.

The psychiatrist added that, after examining Takuma, he had diagnosed him as suffering from a personality disorder rather than from schizophrenia.

The psychiatrist examined Takuma again in 1999 after he was diagnosed as having schizophrenia. The psychiatrist stated, however, that he was not comfortable with this diagnosis, as Takuma's condition appeared to be unchanged.

According to the indictment against him, Takuma broke into the state-run Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on June 8 and stabbed eight children to death. He also injured 13 other children and two teachers, according to the indictment.

Takuma, 38, pleaded guilty to the crime at the first trial session.