18-year-old boy arrested over murder of woman in Kichijoji
TOKYO —
Police on Sunday arrested an 18-year-old Japanese boy on suspicion of murdering a 22-year-old woman near JR Kichijoji Station in Musashino, Tokyo, last Thursday morning.
The boy had been wanted for questioning after being implicated by a 17-year-old Romanian boy already under arrest for the crime.
Fuji TV reported that the 18-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is a minor, turned himself in at a police station in Hino at about 11 p.m. on Saturday. He was accompanied by a number of friends, police said.
Police quoted him as saying that he and his Romanian acquaintance killed the woman because they wanted money.
The victim, Arisa Yamada, had moved to Tokyo from Aomori Prefecture only recently to become a beautician. She was working nights at a restaurant to pay for her college tuition. She was attacked about 500 meters from JR Kichijoji Station just before 2 a.m. on Thursday. She had just left a convenience store and was on her way home from work. Witnesses say they saw two young men follow her from the convenience store.
Police said that Yamada was stabbed twice in the back and her left wrist was also cut. She was taken to hospital, but died due to loss of blood. Her handbag was found empty about 200 meters away.
The Romanian boy was detained at about 5 a.m. Thursday and formally charged with robbery and murder on Friday after a DNA test showed that blood found on one of his gloves matched Yamada’s. When asked about his acquaintance, the boy told officers that the pair were not close friends and that he didn’t know his surname.
Police said Sunday that the 18-year-old suspect has no fixed address or family. He had been staying with a female friend in Hino. Police said they found Yamada’s purse and bank book at that apartment.
The suspect was quoted by police as saying that he and the Romanian ran off in opposite directions after the attack and that he threw the knife away at a nearby parking lot, Fuji reported.
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34 Comments
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20
hobart_mark
They are minors in age only in Japan. The justice system should treat them as adults. This crime was premeditated and cost a young lady the rest of her promising life.
-3
EngrHassanASabi
Atleast one suspect turned himself in. I hope the other guy realizes the loss and surrenders himself to the authorities.
5
oyatoi
The other boy is safely under lock and key. He was nabbed at the scene of the crime.
6
Disillusioned
I am glad this thug is off the street, but the juvenile court system will not give him a punishment worthy of the crime.
6
Wilson Gilmore
The lenient juvenile law is just ridiculous. Let's give people under a certain age a free pass to kill. Oh, it's okay, kill someone while underaged and go to jail for a few months, a year maybe, then it's all okay again. Imagine how many lives Japan could have saved if they just changed the law. But this is Japan we're talking about, so.....
13
Mirai Hayashi
stabbed in the back...what a coward!!
3
Crazedinjapan
It still doesn't make sense that these two individuals planned this attack out. Why did they choose to stab her ? They could have just roughed her up and ran ...I'm just not understanding their logic with this tragic event. Being that they are 18 and this was premeditated they will probably be tried as adults. I hope they give them the harshest sentence possible as they showed no regard for this young woman's life.
Has taking a life become so simple ?? Seems to me there are a lot of homicides this year.
-7
letsberealistic
Let's calm down with the vigilante talk of stringing them up. there are good reasons for having different punishments for minors. Think back to your own teenage-hood and how how aloof, confused you could be and the really dumb things you were capable of (be honest). Someone at 17 or 18 is not fully developed psychologically or emotionally and therefore leniency is necessary. Having said that these boys need some serious rehabilitation and punishment.
6
Mocheake
Got him! Now try him as an adult.
8
Mike Critchley
@letsberealistic "Think back to your own teenage-hood...and the really dumb things you could do."
Your comment is so off-mark. This was beyond "dumb". The report yesterday reported the boy saying they planned the attack, picked the victim at random, then each stabbed her in the back, stole her stuff and fled. Even a kid in elementary school knows what murder is. These kids were young adults. This is not "vigilante justice." It's just justice. Throw them in juvie until they are 20, then give them another 30 years of max security to figure out how "dumb" they were. Or just flip the switch. Whatever. I don't care. These guys don't deserve an ounce of sympathy or understanding.
0
CGB Spender
If they give them a lenient punishment it's safe t say that copycats will follow. The law should for once put an example and give these two low-lifes capital punishment! Or at least lock them in a room together with the bereft for an hour!
1
CGB Spender
@letsbetrealistic please take your pink goggles off for a moment! Yeah, right! Lets give them 2 years youth prison with parole! After they are out again they can murder again or have the most part of their lifes before them. On the other hand the girl has no life before her anymore and that of her family has been destroyed or at least seriously damaged for the rest of their days. But yeah, let's be lenient! They will certainly become nice guys!
Once a killer, always a killer! You can't wash that off! Lets hope the law will put an example here!
3
25psot
They even cut her wrist to take away purse as she was dying from stab wounds. Only worst criminals (butchers) behave like this. So this two should be tried in adult criminal court and get harshest possible punishment..
-1
Fadamor
If they found her empty handbag 200 meters away from her, then shouldn't this read that they found her WALLET and bank book at the friend's apartment?
Wounds to the arms during a knife attack are usually defensive wounds where the victim is trying to deflect the attacks.
Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Only in japan is someone of of college-age considered a "minor".
6
StewartJG
This law is ridiculous. Criminals aged 16 and above should be tried as adults. That's old enough to know the difference between right and wrong and in this case, very wrong.
0
iceshoecream
And cut her wrist so she bleed to dead. That is just sick in a very bad way.
-1
Kimokekahuna Hawaii
They will have to make an example of him to deter this behavior .. women and children walk the streets alone some late at night.. they must be able to feel safe anywhere in Japan. The feeling that you are safe on the street is key to tourism as well. Japan is not a third world country and can not deteriorate into place where people live in fear for their lives.
-3
Cortes Elijah
I've read this over a few times and come up with a idea of why she was stabbed. If I am correct it read that she was slashed on the wrist and stabbed two times in the back. This suggests she was approached from the front and they demanded cash. She refused and they slashed at her arm....causing the cut on her wrist which caused her to panic and run. They then stabbed her quickly two times in the back in the heat of the moment and ran, hoping she did not die but not really thinking much of it.
These guys could have been drunk or on anything. They are obviously low life guys that they would do such a thing for any reason.
I hope for this young woman's sake, and the rest that the fugitive is caught and trailed!
0
conchobar
Cortes Elijah > What did you read a few times? Every account of the crime states that they came at her from behind and stabbed her in the back. She didn't know they were there until she had a knife in her back. And you hope they catch him? Um...try reading the headline a few times.
-4
Cortes Elijah
This only says that she was stabbed in the back. This does not say she was stabbed in the back first. Please send the url for the website where it says she was stabbed in the back first then robbed?
2
sveinnyves
im saddned to know that one hardworking soul chasing her dream became a victim of 2 useless rubbish from the society. My heartfelt condolences to Arisa Yamada san. People like her makes japan such a beautiful country.
-1
Hevel Cava
These two thugs must be punished to the level of their crime; they're not only murderes and cowards, but also a real menace to their own communities and to Japan in general... Thus, the Japan's judicial system and Japanese laws must be changed in order to accomplish real justice for victims like the victim of this horrible crime Arisa Yamada, and against these juvenile fellas that it seems they think they can go their way free and happy with this absurd status quo.
0
cierzo98
@ Fadamor
A handbag is only a 'purse' in the USA. In other more traditinsl forms of English a purse is not a handbag, it is the female's version of a man's wallet. Purses usually are carried inside a handbag.
Your other comments were good, however.
0
Ewan Huzarmy
@fadamor - The writer isn't wrong here, they are using U.K English, purse = woman's wallet.
1
CH3CHO
Everyone is jumping at the topic without knowing the law of Japan.
The punishment for robbery murder for adults is death penalty or life in prison. For 18 years old, the punishment is same as adult. For 17 years old, the punishment is life in prison, because death penalty for 17 or younger is prohibited by international treaty to which Japan is a party.
The life sentence for a juvenile is eligible for "consideration" for parole after 7 years in prison. But parole is not easily granted and life inmates are more likely to die in prison than to get parole.
Do you call it lenient for minors?
0
OrangeXenon54
How tragic. Good thing both assailants were captured (why do some people keep saying there's a fugitive???). I hope what CH3CHO says is correct and that they can receive life imprisonment. And how stupid to think you'd have to MURDER someone just to get a couple thousand yen.
On a kind of whining, self-pitying note, as a white American living in Kichijoji who returns from work late at night, I can now expect plenty of (more) looks.
-2
onewrldoneppl
Bringing him with her to Japan was his mother's mistake. Didn't she know there'd be no future for the boy here? Did she think he was gonna graduate high school, let alone university? The life of crime was a foregone conclusion. Should've left him in Romania. My condolences to the family of the girl.
0
CGB Spender
@CH3CHO Even if they have to spend 10 years in prison, they get out when they are 27-28. Do you think these guys should run around freely ever again? Do you think they will get better persons while in prison? Highly doubtful! In any way murder should never be forgiven. They killed her for a measly amount of cash, a human's life is worth nothing to them!
-1
CH3CHO
CGB Spender
Why do they get out of prison when they get 27-28?
0
CrisGerSan
I am glad they found him i hope justice is served. No other words can say what i feel. Mostly sadness.
0
Skeeter27
I think that fact that he turned himself in is good HOWEVER he and his friend did not show Yamada san any sympathy when they robbed her and killed her I say throw away the key and let them rot in jail.
0
Fadamor
@Cierzo98 and Ewan Huzarmy,
Thanks for the regional clarification. I was aware of the use of "purse" to indicate a bag holding money back in medieval times (resulting in titles like "cut-purse" for certain non-violent thieves), but I hadn't realized it was still in use for that meaning. Indeed, in America we use "purse" more often than "handbag" to describe the container holding all the things a woman deems necessary during the day. "Purse" also is used here to describe the total amount of winnings a gambling venture pays out.
-1
ka_chan
We will see that the courts do but this one seems to be the mastermind of the duo. He had the stolen objects, and did throw away the knife so it would seem that he was the one to last used the knife and he according to the article admitted to killing her for the money.
A secondary question is didn't anyone help the girl who was bleeding to death. She didn't die directly from the wounds but blood lose. Doesn't seem like anyone help her with any first aid. So I would spread the responsibility to any bystanders. Some places consider it a crime not help.
0
Guza!
that pretty low to randomly target someone and slay them down and then rob them, i think they could have easily gotten away with her purse with out the needless bloodshed...Granted im not condoling mugging but thats just crazy that they can get away with it.
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