Man held for attempted murder of policeman after detention for confining girl expires

Thursday 13th August, 10:16 AM JST

OSAKA —

A 28-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for attempted murder and obstructing police in the line of duty, after the Osaka District Public Prosecutors’ Office decided earlier in the day not to charge him for the time being on accusations he held a 19-year-old girl against her will in his apartment and breaking the Swords and Firearms Control Law on July 22.

Police in Ibaraki City in north Osaka rushed to Naoya Iwata’s apartment on the night of July 22, following a call from his neighbor that she could hear a girl screaming for help. Three officers arrived at the scene and asked him where the girl was, but he told them he didn’t know anything about it and that he was watching a video. Police began searching his apartment and found a 19-year-old girl unconscious with her wrists bound together in a storage space about 60 cm wide and 50 cm deep, underneath the flooring.

Iwata is accused of then putting a sword to an officer’s neck, and the other two officers drew their guns and asked him to put the sword down. Thirty minutes passed before five other officers stormed the room from the balcony and Iwata was arrested. One of the officers sustained a serious cut to his right leg in the incident, expected at the time to take up to two months to heal.

The girl was taken to a hospital where she recovered and received treatment for the bone fractures around her eye. Iwata told police that he had met her for the first time several hours earlier after becoming acquainted via a cell phone website.

The Osaka District Public Prosecutors’ Office determined on Wednesday not to charge Iwata as of yet for illegal confinement and violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law, and he became eligible for release given the maximum period of detention expired that day. Iwata was subsequently arrested for attempted murder and interfering with an officer in the line of duty. He has denied intending to kill the officer.

The District Prosecutor’s Office is expected to deal with all of the charges at the same time in the near future.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 34 Total Comments Show All

morriconelover at 08:22 PM JST - 13th August

Well, about police reaction. In most countries in the world you are actually trained to only use your gun as a last resort. I suspect that many of the comments on this page comes from the US, which is particularly infamous for being a trigger happy nation. According to what i have been told, all japanese policemen have undergone kendo training and self defence, and even though very few of the policemen will ever have to use their skills, then they are trained. There is nothing in the article that suggests that they did something wrong in the situation. Only wrongdoing seems to be the fact that the guy wasnt prosecuted for kidnapping. The girl was the victim. But it seems though that the guy would need a psychiatric hospital more than a prison. If he doesnt get treatment then he will do it again for sure.
WilliB at 11:46 PM JST - 13th August

mindovermatter:

" This story speaks for itself, Incompetence, Incompetence, and Piss-Poor Training, glad no one was injured! "

Hey, wait a second. At least this time, they did their job. Coming after countless stories where they precisely failed to do that, I find that rather refreshing.

As for the charges, I don´t get it. Why not charge this nut-job with both and lock him up for the accumulated time?
OkinawaIslander at 12:13 AM JST - 14th August

you know if he had done this in the states he would have been locked up already with no bond or very large amount. Probably charged with kidnapping, assault & battery for beating the girl, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder. Oh and not to mention that the cops would more than likely beat his ass after the cops used a police issued x26 taser or even shoot him since there life was as risk. I think something could have been done, ohhhhhhhhhh like charge him now Vs. the near future. so what does that mean, he must comment the same crime again?
mnemosyne23 at 01:53 AM JST - 14th August

...WTH? This story... boggles my mind. On so many levels.

1) The police arrive at the apartment because of a report of a girl screaming. They search the apartment despite the guy's claim that he knows nothing about it. Okay, good. Points to the cops.

2) They find the girl. Another good thing.

But here's where I completely lose my mind.

3) While they're finding the girl, the perp has both the time AND the opportunity to go get A SWORD, and hold it to a cop's NECK. Not a pocketknife, mind you, or even a kitchen knife. No, a SWORD. Why was no one watching him? There were three officers, weren't there? Why couldn't two search while one watched the guy?

4) It took half an hour for additional officers to arrive. I'm sorry... isn't this Osaka? Isn't it a major city? Where were they coming from, Mt Fuji?

5) In the end, it took EIGHT officers to arrest the guy. Huh? Like other posters have mentioned, why doesn't Japan let its police officers use tasers? Fine if you don't want to fire a gun, but come on -- give them SOMETHING to help them apprehend the suspect. At least they DID arrest him and didn't let him escape. That's a small miracle right there, actually. If the other officers "stormed" the apartment from the balcony, I've got to assume it's a ground floor apartment, or at least has direct access to an external exit. I'm surprised the guy didn't shout "BOO!" and hightail it out of the apartment before the cavalry could arrive.

6) I am completely at a loss to figure out why they didn't charge him with multiple violations when he was first arrested. Why hasn't he been formally charged yet? What are they trying to DO? Build a bigger case against him? He had a 19-year-old girl tied up in a storage space under the floorboards of his apartment. This same girl suffered fractures to her face, presumably when he punched her to get her to stop screaming for help and knocked her unconscious. He held a sword to a police officer's throat with malicious intent. He severely wounded another police officer with the same sword. I'm sure the girl LOVES knowing that this guy is cooling his heels in some lock-up somewhere with the potential to get released if some pencil pusher forgets to file the indictment paperwork on time.

What I'm saying is, quit dithering. Get this guy charged, tried, convicted and sentenced, THEN flit around building a case for additional charges if such a case exists. If that's not what's going on, then what the heck are they DOING?
Molenir at 04:17 AM JST - 14th August

What I'm saying is, quit dithering. Get this guy charged, tried, convicted and sentenced, THEN flit around building a case for additional charges if such a case exists. If that's not what's going on, then what the heck are they DOING?

Totally agree here. Seems silly to be dithering around with this. The man ought to have already been sent away for 10 years for what he did.
nimbus at 04:38 AM JST - 14th August

Too much paper work to file ALL the charges against the guy?
sharky1 at 07:05 AM JST - 14th August

If they charge him each time his sentence expires, there is no possibility of him serving concurrent sentences. In other words, they can keep him locked up longer by prosecuting him for the other offenses at the end of each sentence.
MeanRingo at 07:39 AM JST - 14th August

One, with pornography in the state that it's in in Japan, I'm surprised they didn't believe the explanation that it was a movie.

Two, does anyone know if Japan has a sex offender list that gets published in the community every now and again so that people know where people on the list may live? If not, they need one. I imagine he would have only gotten a few weeks to a year or two if he had only been caught confining her. I for one would like to know where the sex offenders in my community live so I could make sure I keep far away. Mind you, a list of sex offenders in Japan would look more like a phone book than anything else.
LFRAgain at 09:17 AM JST - 14th August

"Only in Japan would you need such a law! We truly are still living in Medievel times!"

Ummm . . . Yes, and no.

Yes, perhaps only in Japan. But that because Japanese military history and culture are rife with examples of how the sword, or more specifically the katana has played a prominent role in the founding of the nation.

You can no more extricate the katana from Japanese culture than you can guns from American or castles from British. All are powerful symbols of each culture's past.

With that in mind, a lot of people possess katana -- Some as family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation. Some as historical memorabilia from past events as recent as World War II. Regardless of why people possess them, swords are fundamentally still weapons for injuring or killing, and as such, are controlled by Japanese law according to Japanese sensibilities.

You wouldn’t berate England for banning the illegal use of firearms, whose use dates back to the 17th century, would you? So why Japan with swords?

There’s nothing strange, backwards, or Medieval at all about the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
Nessie at 09:31 AM JST - 14th August

A 28-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for attempted murder and obstructing police in the line of duty, after the Osaka District Public Prosecutors’ Office decided earlier in the day not to charge him for the time being on accusations he withheld a 19-year-old girl against her will in his apartment and breaking the Swords and Firearms Control Law on July 22.

"Withheld" her from what? Who made the "accusations"? And don't even get me started about the lack of parallelism.
womanforwomen at 08:00 PM JST - 14th August

a list of sex offenders in Japan would look more like a phone book than anything else.

a sex offenders list will help a great deal as many seem to be into the cellphone dating.
KyotoChris at 09:20 PM JST - 14th August

BurakuminDes

Only in Japan would you need such a law! We truly are still living in Medievel times!

You have no understanding of why this law is in affect. I don't understand if people have so much dislike/disdain for Japan and customs, why do you even come to this site?
KyotoChris at 09:22 PM JST - 14th August

LFRAgain

Thanks for that post. You explained it very well.
Mayura at 04:00 PM JST - 20th August

Well, he had a weapon. They could've just shot him instead since the guy is a sicko anyway.
Nessie at 04:14 PM JST - 20th August

Man held for attempted murder of policeman after detention for confining girl expires

This is one of the most convoluted headlines I have ever had the privilege of hurting my brain with.