Stalker sent 1,000 emails to ex-girlfriend before killing her, police say
KANAGAWA —
Police said Friday that a man who stalked and then is believed to have murdered his ex-girlfriend in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, had sent her more than 1,000 email messages.
According to police, the suspect, identified as 40-year-old Hideto Kozutsumi, stabbed to death his 33-year-old ex-girlfriend, Rie Miyoshi, at her apartment in Zushi, on Tuesday, and then hanged himself from the balcony of the 2nd-story apartment, Fuji TV reported.
Police said that a search of Miyoshi’s cell phone turned up over 1,000 emails sent from Kozutsumi over the course of two weeks. The content of the emails, which police say was largely the same, referred to a contract that Miyoshi breached when she married another man. Kozutsumi also demanded monetary compensation for the breach of contract, Fuji reported.
Miyoshi’s husband was at work when the murder was committed at around 3 p.m., police said.
Police said that Miyoshi and Kozutsumi dated between 2004 and 2006. In 2010, Miyoshi filed a complaint with police that Kozutsumi was stalking her and sending her threatening emails, Fuji reported. Kozutsumi was arrested in June 2011 for breaking an anti-stalking law, but he received a suspended sentence.
Police said Miyoshi complained to police again in April that Kozutsumi had resumed sending emails, but police said the wording—in which he referred to contracts—could not be used as evidence of a threat.
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15
hoserfella
Another predictable outcome with the less than useless police in Japan. If the complaint had been of kids riding double on their bikes, the entire police force would have been mobilized within minutes.
-7
rickyvee
yes, this is definitely the j-police's fault, said sarcastically. his malicious mails about a "contract" portended that he was going to kill her. oh, how could the police be so stupid.
6
Stephen Knight
Actually, in this case the police actually followed up with the victim several times in the months following the April string of e-mails, and were told each time that the mails and other contact had completely ceased. Apparently, the stalker was no longer under surveillance after the summer... a sad ending for all, in any case.
3
hoserfella
rickyvee - see, heres the thing. Without even knowing the outcome I say " Wow, that guy is stalking and is a danger to the woman" Others, ahem, put their head in the sand, uttrely scared of taking action or using common sense.
-3
hoserfella
Stephen Knight -
Is that what you mean by "ceased"?
5
combinibento
And let the comments roll in... I've asked before and I'll ask again: Does this stone-age, neolithic, empty shell of a legal system even have something like what the civilized legal systems out there call a "restraining order"? Do the geniuses that came up with the existing laws (no doubt created 50-60 years ago) bother to consider that sending numerous unwanted emails is in and of itself harassing behavior worthy of police involvement, whether the substance of those emails amount to threats or not? I am serious here, despite my defeated tone...
1
Yubaru
This was on the news and the cops were reported to have said that current law does not cover email messages as "proof" of stalking hence their inability to investigate any further at the time.
1
Thomas Anderson
Police was at fault, again. They never take any threats seriously and they let something like this happen. The apologists are out of force again defending the incompetent J-cops.
On Twitter a little girl is being sent death threats and instead of being outraged at the people who threaten her or the police who do nothing, people are blaming her for it. The Japanese society is insane.
-1
billyshears
Aren't the police sometimes supposed to act on initiative? Like pay a "courtesy call" on the sender of these emails in order to "make inquiries"? Anyway, despite the police's inability to prevent this crime, it has to be said that when the perpetrator is willing to die for his/her actions, it is very difficult to prevent those actions, bar prior incarceration. Restraining orders would also have been useless in this case. Is there a case for mandatory long-term imprisonment (maybe under the mental health act) for convicted stalkers? The victim's relatives may well think so because obviously jealousy and insanity are closely related.
3
combinibento
I don't fault the cops as much as the legal system as a whole. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt here; i.e., that their hands were tied based on existing laws and criminal procedure. The bigger picture here is that (a) this man was arrested and convicted for being a stalker; (b) he was released from custody with apparently no court order barring him from contacting this woman again; (c) less than a year later the victim went to the police to complain he was harassing her again; (d) the police deemed he had committed no arrestable offense!!!! This is ludicrous. Again assuming the police were legally prohibited from making an arrest, that means stalkers can resume their stalking, so long as they control the content of their contact. In a civilized society with a proper legal system, a restraining order would have been issued and the moment he contacted her via email, even to comment on the weather, would have resulted in an arrest.
0
billyshears
@combini
Yes.
"Courts issue 1,499 restraining orders Courts issued 1,499 restraining orders in domestic violence cases in 2003, up 27.5 percent from the previous year.
The National Police Agency said Thursday that courts nationwide issued 1,075 orders forbidding abusive spouses from approaching their partners for six months, up 243 from a year earlier, and ordered five of those spouses to stay away from home for two weeks, up from four the previous year.
The courts ordered abusive spouses to stay away from partners and homes in 419 cases, up 79 from the previous year.
Police took action over 41 cases in which court orders were violated, the NPA said.
The law against domestic violence, enacted in 2001, allows district courts to issue restraining orders against abusive spouses.
The NPA said 12,568 cases of alleged domestic violence were filed with police nationwide last year."
2
gogogo
So police call it stalking AFTER she is dead but couldn't be bothered to do their job BEFORE she died and tried to get help...... so sad!
3
southsakai
Very sad but this the reality. The police is not going to protect you, the law and justice system will not protect you. In situations like these, you really need to take matters into your own hands. When someone is stalking you or your family, your best bet is to have the matter dealt with yourself and your buddies. These freaks need to know their limits, or else it's black and blue town for them.
4
Dennis Bauer
Suspended sentence, wow that showed him
-3
Mirai Hayashi
Another Jpolice FAIL...when will they ever learn
1
rickyvee
@hoserfella
this is a loophole that the killer used to harass his victim. it's a big stretch of the imagination that one goes from sending annoying emails to murder. if he had escalated it to physical stalking, then to verbal harassment, and then to physical violence, then the police could have possible done something to prevent it.
0
Disillusioned
Passive policing at its finest! And, why didn't she change her email address? I think she should probably have moved house too. I know she shouldn't have to turn her life around for this loser, but the cops can do very little to protect women from these loons and there are many. My GF was stalked by her ex for six months after they split. Of course, she complained to the cops and they advised her to move and change her email address cos there was very little they could do except go and talk to the loser. She moved and he hasn't been heard from for three years. But, we know where he is. ;-)
3
Stephen Knight
@horsefella
Police said Miyoshi complained to police again in April that Kozutsumi had resumed sending emails, but police said the wording—in which he referred to contracts—could not be used as evidence of a threat.
Is that what you mean by "ceased"?
If you read my post more carefully, I note that the police followed up several times in the months after the April emails and were told the mails and other harassment had ceased. They had also stepped up patrols of her neighborhood for several months after those emails, and had only recently discontinued them.
I am regularly appalled at police non-action in these kinds of situations--regardless of whether legal constrictions are to blame--but in this particular case, it sounds like they did everything the law allows in terms of trying to prevent this outcome.
1
Frungy
Umm... are any of you reading the actual article? The j-cops did their job. The prosecutor didn't push for a heavy enough sentence, and the judge went light on him. The failure here is the Japanese prosecutors (no surprise! maybe they were too busy ignoring evidenceof innocence in another trial, or fabricating evidence?), and the Japanese judge (maybe it was one of those "citizen judges"... who are from what I read mostly like the obaachan up the road who calls the police because there's a "suspicious foreigner" in the area... despite me having lived here longer than she has, but who ignores stuff like kids hanging around outside the combini at midnight).
-1
hoserfella
is it really, rickyvee? what happened to this poor woman again?
-1
hobart_mark
Japanese law enforcement appears incompetent in these unfortunate killings....
-1
cramp
why kill her if you're only really after money? its weird that its been going on for a few years, plus all emails are about compensation, ...impossible that its not physical stalking...then bam! murder
something doesn't add up or the story is incomplete
0
Goals0
This evening's news said that the stalker only got Miyoshi-san's new address and married name because of the police reading them to him. http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2012110990135755.html
0
Goals0
Oops! Wrong link: http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/s/article/2012110990135755.html
5
vctokyo
saw this on one of the morning shows the other day. They mentioned police could not proceed with any action because the stalking laws do not include "emails" in the definition, only telephone calls and fax. Really Japan! are we living in the stone ages...and the police how pathetic...use common sense ...bloody 1000 emails, 1000 knocks on your door, 1000 post it notes in the space of 2 weeks is bloody harassment!
Truly, each week we get these stories of police incompetence or abuse of law or groping kids, this is appalling. The worst thing is nothing gets done except some paper pushing cop making some apology, just for the sake of it.
1
TheDevilsAssistant
1000 emails? really? Because the system failed her, the outcome would have probably ended up the same, but you would think after receiving the first hundred or so emails she woulda, coulda, shoulda filtered her email?
2
Serrano
This nutter should have been incarcerated when he was arrested in 2011 for stalking.
-1
Iron Clad Templar
Alas today`s policing is not quite as effective as it was, no doubt there are many other cases of this kind ongoing and causing havoc amongst the victims, my heart goes out to the husband. One hopes that this poor lass and her murders horrific deaths will encourage the local constabulary to broaden their outlook on the stalking of both males and females. The knights and I would also like to suggest a return to our more draconian methods of prevention, which requires a quick backhanded slash across the wrist tendons. Tends to stop one from being able to use the more modern forms of communication! Tally-ho......
-1
DudeDeuce
She should have changed her e-mail address, it isn't that hard.
2
Elbuda Mexicano
Looks like nobody here is following the news in the original Japanese, the idiot Japanese police facilitated this murder by either mistakenly or purposefully giving this woman's address to the stalker, he found her, stalked her some more and killed. Some police need to be not just fired, but arrested and if possible given the death penalty! RIP poor woman
0
wontond
crazy guy + ineffective cops = dead woman
-1
whiskeysour
Do they have photographs of the victim and perp ????
I think the government should step in MORE
She should have been relocated, changed email phones and home address.
This guy gave 1000 warning signs before it became murderous.
I hope Japanese women will be more aware, if they have this type of situation it's best to move to another prefecture or whatever.
GO DARK ! ! ! !
Disappear !!!!!
Domestic Violence is serious, they should teach this in Senior High School.
-1
Frank Rizzo
This type of thing has happened again and again in Japan. In the time I lived there, I heard dozens of stories like this. It's further proof of how backwards and sexist Japan is. There simply is no other country in the developed world where this type of thing could happen with such regularity. Here are some of the things that this incident highlights:
First, the lack of effective legal protections for women reflects just how sexist Japan is. It reflects the low standing of women in Japanese society and their lack of rights (anybody remember how long it took them to approve the birth control pill versus how long it took them to approve Viagra?).
Second, the shocking unwillingness of the police to take this matter seriously reflects not only their sexism, but the all-too-common unwillingness of Japanese people to take personal responsibility for things. I've dealt with the Japanese police on several occasions, and I found them loathe to want to take action, even when doing so could have potentially avoided a serious situation.
Third, this shows just how feudal Japan is. There is only the filmiest veneer of legality and most laws are honored in the breech. Instead of laws, the country runs on power relations. You can bet that if a powerful businessman walks into a police station with a complaint, the cops sit up and take notice. But a young woman? Come on! They've got important cigarettes to smoke! The law is not used to ensure the public safety, when the police invoke it, it's used as an excuse for not taking action (I've seen this with my own eyes on several occasions).
Fourth, this shows the deep level of mental sickness in Japan. The number of men there involved in stalking, sexual harassment, sick pornography (don't forget that Japan leads the world in the production of child porn), stealing women's underwear, flashing, chikan-ery and so on is truly astonishing. Open an "adult manga" of the sort you find in a salaryman's shokudo and tell me that you are dealing with healthy well-adjusted people.
I honestly wonder why any Western female would live in Japan or why any parent of a girl would raise her in Japan. It's not safe. For that matter, I wonder why well-educated Japanese women aren't moving abroad in greater numbers.
0
kiyoshiMukai
Thid act isnt that different in other countries. The entire worla is just like that. I used to send lots of mails to my ex. But i never killed her for god sake.
0
Speed
She could've filtered out the perpetrator from being able to email her but that would've erased the evidence of stalking. Not that it did her any good since the law hasn't progressed out of the 1980s.
My condolences to this poor lady and her family.
1
Roboto_san
Isn't this the kind of case where one would contact your local yakuza syndicate? I mean, they would have roughed the dude up and she never would have heard from him again. Police being borderline useless; yakuza have traditionally always had a place in Japanese society as a mediator between citizen and inadequate police follow up. Always has and always will.
1
BigDan
I think I may be one of the few commentators here who doesn't actually live in Japan, (no anger please, it's just that I'm interested in what goes on in Japan), but what I can't figure out is why her husband never took action?
In America I can't imagine this not having attracted police attention after her husband inevitably cornered the suspect after, say, the first 50 emails.
0
ebonyninja
This is the other situation that the NPA never takes seriously! STALKERS!!
And the story always ends the same. Girl says no! Guy begs! Guy stalks! Then Guy kills girl!
R.I.P. young lady!!
0
JanesBlonde
History of staking - resumed sending 1000+ emails etc etc - does Japan NOT have laws with regard to harassment?
Emails do not have to be "threatening" to be be deemed to as "harassment". I mean, in the US you can be jailed for spamming. Surely given the history of the case and the amount of the police involvement prior to the murder, they could have come up with something to at least attempt to deter this guy.
For the Police to simply say "technically" the content of these new emails is not threatening or it is insufficient to charge him with stalking AGAIN is unacceptable.
He had already been arrested, charged and basically let off by the judge, based on that the Police should have acted again once he started again.
The Police are like any big company, you have good, diligent workers but unfortunately you have basically lazy useless ones, who cannot be bothered to really do their job.
I wonder if the case was handled by a different set of police or officers the second time round?
0
alladin
It is sad that this guy can't be more productive in society. To send 1000 e-mails to a person is a total waste of time and if you ask me, he must be a total idiot to do a thing like this.
0
Laurenço Iscariot Shells
I don't get it.
If they thought that he was and danger but could not prove it, why didn't they just beat the living Sh!t out him like they usually do when they need some "cooperation".
Defend or Condemn, it seems that the Police are going out of their way to make themselves the nicest buy the book, 15 year old groping, 18 year old raping, Nepali beating, public servants out there.
0
Laurenço Iscariot Shells
ugg ^^^^ Proof read owns meh ^^^
1
Ch1n4Sailor
Absolutely 1000% Agree, police that are more worried about checking bicycle registrations, yet are asleep on the job when it comes to REAL Crime.
I also partially fault the victim, and the victim's husband, it's quite obvious this guy was a nut-job, or at the very least, determined to get his money or cut his self perceived loses over the relationship, contract or what-ever...
Restraining orders in this day and age are not difficult to get, and after she exhausted her attempts with the "Good-For-Nothing" police, Why not just pay the guy off...? He's referencing some contract, just speculating, but he probably had his feelings hurt, or suffered "Lose of Face," which is a big thing n Japan (not a big deal in western Society, where common-sense and critical thinking trump all) and he wants some sort of compensation... You should remember that, that old saying, "All's Fair in Love and War," goes both ways, it's doesn't only apply to vindictive women / a woman's scorn, there's plenty of nut-jobs out there (especially in Japan) that will seek vengeance when they feel they've been aggrieved.
2
bicultural
So, Frank, I guess you've taken it upon yourself to tell other gaijin to leave Japan, the most terrible place to be on this planet? Thanks for the advice.
-2
nigelboy
Sending a 1000 e-mail is not a crime unless the message contained some sort of a threat. The stalker made sure of that because he was arrested and sentenced for doing that previously. Unless you advocate the police to arrest and charge people without charges based on the law, there is nothing that police could do to prevent this.
Changing the law is the only solution where police could of arrested this guy for violating the suspended sentence.
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