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Police in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, have arrested two men and a woman on suspicion of robbery after the woman gained admittance to the house of an elderly lady by asking if she could use the toilet.
The incident occurred on Jan 19, Sankei Shimbun reported. The victim is in her 70s and lives alone in the coastal town. She told police a woman rang the intercom and asked if she could use the toilet at around 4:05 p.m. Since she appeared desperate, the elderly woman opened her door. She told police she was startled when a man also came into the house.
The intruders then tied the victim’s hands with a plastic cord and ransacked her residence, looking for cash. About 20 minutes later, they found her safe and fled the scene.
The victim managed to untie herself at around 7 p.m. and called 110. She told police the stolen safe contained a bankbook but no cash.
On Saturday, police said they had charged three suspects — Riku Matsuo, 21, a part-time worker, Jundai Kawano, 21, who is unemployed, and their female accomplice Kureha Kanbe, 23, also unemployed.
Police said Kanbe and Matsuo have admitted to robbing the woman, while Kawano, who is believed to have waited outside the house, has denied any involvement.
© Japan Today
22 Comments
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Rob-3
My guess is that Kawano will most likely get fined for knowledge of the planned robbery (even if it was an impromptu decision) and for not reporting it.
However, this is still the off change that he did not know what happened. The other two could have already planned this and not shared it with Kawano but there's still the matter of the safe that the other two made off with -- kinda hard to explain that.
Regardless, all three are scum...
Sal Affist
I would love to know how the police tracked the suspects down. Old people don't often have security cameras but perhaps the perps used a car with a license plate trackable to them, and it was caught on a nearby camera at the right time, or maybe a neighbor saw the team departing and was able to provide some good evidence.
Fighto!
@ Old man - You keep repeating this like a mantra, but care to cite any evidence to show that crimes are becoming more frequent in Japan? Other than just one off random incidents? Because ALL trending evidence from the Police agencies suggests crime has been dropping year by year for a long time.
Nowehere in the world has EVER been completely safe. Where did you get this fantastic notion that Japan had been completely safe before? It is far safer than it was decades ago, but certainly never 100% safe.
I will be waiting patiently for your evidence.
garypen
Yeah. He can't use "stressed from work", being unemployed.
Btang
Let’s just wait and see until you all run out of money too, probably another five years, ten years
I guess you have not watched the global weather catastrophies, etc. America is falling fast, the western world is changing. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Michio Kaku
Toasted Heretic
It wasn't a murder attempt, though. A disgusting crime, preying on older folks but thankfully, not murder.
Sven Asai
Let’s just wait and see until you all run out of money too, probably another five years, ten years of course with corona and the global economy in transition... Then some of you will finally have to do similar bad things, rob convenience stores, elderly people, something like that. The time has come for everyone to get very quickly and unwanted into such a situation where you have nothing left , but the stomach hurts of some hunger. Still it’s easy for you to condemn those people, but you’re all already very close....
Goodlucktoyou
At that age, tied up for three hours, I would rush to the neighbors house and ask to use their toilet.
Mirchy
Of course... I didn't steal, I was just holding the bag...
therougou
*should
therougou
They left her tied up and she be charged with attempted murder.
kokontozai
drlucifer
If possible, please show me your evidences.
drlucifer
If the records can be believed, Sorry I don't.
I guess you forgot that report of police in Osaka deliberately not counting a lot of
cases to paint a picture of the prefecture as having low crime rate.
With outright shredding of important gov't documents not considered a crime, one
would be naive to believe anything
kokontozai
oldman_13
However, the number of crimes in Japan has been declining year by year.
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQODG01ACJ0R00C21A2000000/
Gaijinjland
The guy allegedly waiting outside the house won’t be convicted. Prosecutors will throw it out because the guy never entered the residence and has a solid alibi. Unless the prosecutors harass him and get him to squeal. His friends on the other hand are not so lucky. And just get a job. Stealing a bank book is useless because you can’t withdraw without a Hanko.
Tamil
Kawano, who is believed to have waited outside the house, has denied any involvement.
Perhaps he was drunk, and cant remember.
wowyz
oldman
No coincidence at all that these types of random crimes are becoming ever more frequent in Japan the past decade. Those days of people bragging about wallets being left behind on public trains and returned unmolested to the owners is long gone I am afraid. There really is no such thing as a completely safe area anymore.
Mark
Poor lady, glad to know they are locked in the joint.
obladi
Wealthy elderly people have been targeted by gangs since time immemorial. The silver lining here is that no one was hurt and they thugs have been caught.
oldman_13
No coincidence at all that these types of random crimes are becoming ever more frequent in Japan the past decade. Those days of people bragging about wallets being left behind on public trains and returned unmolested to the owners is long gone I am afraid. There really is no such thing as a completely safe area anymore.