Police in Hamura City, Tokyo, said Tuesday they have rearrested a 77-year-old woman on suspicion of killing her 74-year-old sister at their home. The woman had been arrested in April over the death of her 47-year-old son but was out on bail.
According to police, Kikuyo Kodama is accused of strangling her sister, Kimiko Goto, at their residence at around 11 a.m. on Monday, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police said Kodama called 110 at around 1 p.m. and confessed to killing her younger sister.
Goto was unconscious when taken to a hospital and died on Monday afternoon.
Kodama was quoted as saying her ailing sister had “requested” she be killed.
Meanwhile, police revealed that Kodama had been charged and released on bail in July in connection with the death of her son in April when they were living in Akiruno City, Tokyo. Kodama claimed that her son, who suffered from diabetes, had tried to kill himself by injecting himself with an overdose of insulin. When that failed, Kodama claimed that he requested to be killed and that she strangled him.
© Japan Today
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Fiddlers
She got bail after admitting she strangled her son ???
Japan's legal system is really messed up.
Zaphod
What? First she kills her son and then her sister? Speechless
garymalmgren
Re Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
Most of you on this site probably do not know anything about what diabetes is about.
This lady does, and perhaps she did not use the fast acting diabetic shot but rather the missed neutral medium or the slow reacting one
I don't know that much about diabetes, but at least I read the article.
"she strangled him."
blvtzpk
@ therougou and @garymalmgren
Agreed!
Reading the article is always wise before posting what one thinks the article is about!
therougou
"This lady" didn't use any shot. It says her son tried to kill himself with insulin, and then she strangled him.
Most likely they let her out on bail to "take care" of her sister, instead of finding a proper nursing home.
ReasonandWisdomNippon
Women=less time in jail then a man for the same crime. This happens in several countries around the world not just Japan. Women getting a 2nd chance or a 3rd when most men would never see the light of day.
Women on average get less jail time.
Treated better once in jail.
Easier to bailout.
Women in 2021=automatically has to be believed on her accusations, automatically she is the victim and the man the villain the bad guy.
Gaijinjland
I find it highly unlikely that two family members would request to be killed. And never live with your mom past the age of 30 if you don't have to. But why did they let her out on bail in the first place after confessing to killing her son?
DOEL HARRY
My belief is that anyone charged with murder should be held in jail until they go to court and are found innocent or guilty. Allowing a murder suspect bail and to go back into society while they wait to go to court is ridiculous YOUR PUTTING INNOCENT PEOPLE IN DANGER as in this case Kikuyo Kodama killed her sister Kimiko Goto while out on bail.
snowymountainhell
“Speechless” ?? - Hardly EVER.
Mark
TRASH.
William Bjornson
I suspect that bail will be harder to come by this second time...don't you? If nothing else, murdering someone else must at least be a violation of the terms of her original bail...
Danielsan
Both alleged victims are said to have requested assistance in ending their lives. This poor woman was only helping her beloved family members with a difficult choice. She deserves to be set free!
Oxycodin
yes I do . One the cause is eating too much process foods and eating carbohydrates which turn to sugar regardless of the type of carbohydrates. Eating foods that were cooked with fake hydrogenated oils such as vegetables oils all leads up to it and high carb meal frequency. Give the liver a break.
Fighto!
If found guilty of these TWO murders, this evil woman will hopefully get a short piece of rope and a trapdoor floor.
Rest in Peace to the poor victims.
William Bjornson
ONLY if you are poor...
William Bjornson
Ah, pots and kettles in conversation...
Daninthepan
Released on bail?
Whoever is left in her family must be terrified.
snowymountainhell
Appreciate that you always cut to the chase @Strangerland and acknowledge the “weekly” is a bit hyperbolic, But it is often ‘the news’ here, on this source of media. Point here @7:34sm is that previous poster always decries “what about the crimes of the West?” when it’s an issue in Japan. Even the statistical link he posted doesn’t address these very specific types of crime and only add to his narrative that ‘the West’, English speakers and occidental ideologies, business and politics are all “evil”.
To answer your question, there are stats for these types of crimes from many western countries but there appear to be none published by the NPA or Japan’s Ministry of Justice.
Strangerland
So, presumption of guilt over innocence. Got it.
Scorpion
The law in Japan protecting the 70+ year olds from serving anytime in Prison will be tested on this one. Will be interesting to see what happens.
snowymountainhell
Yet still, You can’t (or won’t) provide specific stats on the increasing trend of intra-family violence in Japan, *@WilliamBjornson 11:53pm ?? **Those comparative international stats are worthless concerning this *topic.
Present company included, of course.
purple_depressed_bacon
So this murderer is just free to roam the streets after confessing to killing not one but TWO of her family members? That sounds logical...not.
Pacific Saury
But what if they really wanted to die? Perhaps it was an act of mercy.
Larry Lacky
This report doesn’t reveal much information. Curious to know what state of mental health these people were in during the times mentioned in the article. Apparently, they had money to move and that isn’t cheap here.
William Bjornson
A 77 year old woman would seem unlikely to be a breakout serial killer to any judge anywhere so 'bail' would seem reasonable.
Is there some neurological syndrome that overcomes people who visit Japan for extended periods which causes them to forget the rampant pathology that permeates their home countries, where stories as bizarre as this NEVER make it to the public media because they are so commonplace? ANY English speaking country, certainly, will outshine Japan in everyday sub-media-threshold pathological behavior.
In fact, many English-world CITIES will make Nihon look like a criminological Eden. In a country of 125 million or so souls in a list of over 130 countries, Japan's crime rate is well below ALL of them¹ except for a few countries whose populations are way less than Japan's. So, whatever Japan is failing to do, perhaps other countries should fail in the same way. Or commenters might look in their own sociological mirrors before committing either purposeful or inadvertent hypocrisy in print. Or could it just be the unusual subconscious unease of inexplicably feeling 'safe' which suggests to these critics that 'something must be wrong'...
¹ https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country
Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
It is one of the fasted ways for suicide using insulin. It shuts down the whole system. Am surprised there are not historical records of people using it for murder.
Most of you on this site probably do not know anything about what diabetes is about.
This lady does, and perhaps she did not use the fast acting diabetic shot but rather the missed neutral medium or the slow reacting one. Most diabetic 1 people use all three and it depends on what they will eat or plan to eat.
Oxycodin
Letting a murder go bail and at the age the convict is she probably thought hey why not go for a kill steak as I’m going to be in prison anyhow. Not sure why they let murders out with bail. USA impossible to get bail
Strangerland
and NEVER acknowledging that it’s Japan’s consistent, weekly stories of intra-family violence that are of concern:
Are they? I mean, of course they are horrible events. But, it's a country of 130 million people, and you're describing an issue that has plagued all of humanity since the dawn of families. Is it more of a concern in Japan than in other places? What are the numbers, that would help us determine.