Man held for detaining, assaulting and robbing woman in Saitama

Tuesday 09th December, 11:00 AM JST

TOKYO —

A man was arrested on Monday on suspicion of forcing a woman into his car, taking her to a hotel, and sexually assaulting and robbing her in October last year, police said Tuesday.

Masayuki Sakai, an unemployed 36-year-old resident of Adachi Ward, is suspected of threatening the 26-year-old woman with a hammer as she was walking home from her part-time job in Kawaguchi City in Saitama prefecture. He is alleged to have then forced her into his car and taken her to the hotel, where he robbed and assaulted her. Sakai has admitted to the allegations, police said.

Sakai had already been charged with detaining and assaulting a woman on her way home in Ginza in October this year. Police are investigating if he was involved in several other similar cases as well.

Kyodo News Service

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Latest 15 of 19 Total Comments Show All

timorborder at 02:21 PM JST - 9th December

Unemployed and in Saitama, how surprising! The names and ages of the characters change, however, the story itself varies little from day to day. What is it with this country, and particularly this army of unemployed men in their 20s and 30s. What is the answer to this sort of thing? Reading such stories is just depressing.
timeon at 02:29 PM JST - 9th December

so the guy is from Adachi-ku, and went with a hammer in Kawaguchi-shi (and I can only assume near Nishi-Kawaguchi, the famous prostitution district, where all the weirdos of Saitama gather). and if he was detained in October, why is he roaming free with his hammer again?
dennis0bauer at 02:43 PM JST - 9th December

Sakai had already been charged with detaining and assaulting a woman on her way home in Ginza in October this year yes why is he still running free? will be indicted again and set free again???
Speed at 03:06 PM JST - 9th December

What is it with this country, and particularly this army of unemployed men in their 20s and 30s. What is the answer to this sort of thing?

The answer to this is to have more full time stable contracts available for more people in the workforce. Until the 90's this was the case and it is now (and from here on out) that the "use and throw-away" contract/part-time workers will lash and slash out at a society that they feel no longer really cares about them or has wronged them.

There's a lot to be said about the many industries and public servants that had been financially supported by the national government, inefficient as it was. It did help to create a more stable society with less malcontents roaming around without jobs nor have connections to work or groups.
timorborder at 03:09 PM JST - 9th December

Sorry Speed, can only give you 5 out of 10 for that answer. I was actually hoping for a bit of physco-analysis of the situation as well. I just think that this whole issue goes beyond simple employment matters. I know there is something more to this, but I just cannot put my figure on it. All comments greatly appreciated.
Speed at 03:47 PM JST - 9th December

I do strongly believe that a stable workforce is vital to keeping crime and discontent in check. The benefits of government subsidizing large sectors of society may be more debatable however.
BBLeo at 06:14 PM JST - 9th December

After one year finally cops nabbed him. Why took so long to apprehend him? Someone is not doing paid job in uniform or perhaps also in plain cloth. Possibly this suspect was molesting many other women’s for a long time. Take him to 'shrink.'
airrunwesker at 10:27 PM JST - 9th December

An "army of unemployed men in their 20s and 30s"?

Could always join the Army!
WilliB at 12:21 AM JST - 10th December

Yep, sounds like Saitama all right.
kjunluc2 at 05:58 AM JST - 10th December

How can you get a woman into a hotel against her will?
noirgaijin at 07:41 AM JST - 10th December

How can you get a woman into a hotel against her will?

Kjunluc2, I was thinking the same thing. Did she just stand there as the butthead register or even went as far as paying the hotel bill because he was unemployed? There seems to be some holes in this story. But must agree Saitama is due for some house cleaning like the Japanese police did back in the early 90's to rid Tokyo of the drug dealers.
Okinawamike at 07:43 AM JST - 10th December

kjunluc2

Guess you have never hear of a love hotel that have a private entrance.

Not to hard to see how someone could pull another person from the car to the room.

Best, if you have a hammer in your hand I would think.
soldave at 08:50 AM JST - 10th December

Notginger - Maybe because if the story says "rape" or "attempted rape" then it makes the story seem even more serious in nature.
likeitis at 09:14 AM JST - 10th December

Was he re-arrested while he was still in custody? Was he out on bail? Really hard to understand this article.
WilliB at 11:08 AM JST - 10th December

kjunuluc:

" How can you get a woman into a hotel against her will? "

These days they have fully automated love hotels where you don´t even see a receptionist. You just push the button on the panel with room numbers, and your room becomes unlocked. Once you are in, the door locks and you have to pay at the machine to get out again. Quite convenient for our Saitama friend with the hammer, I´d say.