crime

Woman turned away 3 times by police after confessing to killing her husband

35 Comments

A woman who turned herself to police in Tokyo three times, confessing that she had killed her husband, was sent away each time by police who didn't believe her.

At around noon on June 9, Kinuko Wakui, 53, who lives in Saitama City, visited a police box in Tokyo’s Kita Ward and said she had murdered her husband, Fuji TV reported. The officer on duty took no action and advised her to go home. Wakui then to Akabane police station nearby about 30 minutes later. However, the officer on duty apparently did not believe her and told her to leave, without making any attempt to check her story. Wakui visited the station again the next day, but police said they thought she was lying and again told her to go home.

Two days later, she told the same story to staff at a hospital she was visiting to be treated for a chronic illness.

Saitama prefectural police were then alerted by the hospital and went to the woman’s residence, where they found the body of her 70-year-old husband.

Wakui was arrested on June 15 on suspicion of abandoning a body. Police quoted her as saying she had beaten her husband to death

This week, the Tokyo metropolitan police department issued a statement in which they apologized and said: “We should have immediately confirmed the facts [of the woman’s confession] and will take preventative measures to avoid such incidents ion the future.”

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35 Comments
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This week, the Tokyo metropolitan police department issued a statement in which they apologized and said: “We should have immediately confirmed the facts [of the woman’s confession] and will take preventative measures to avoid such incidents ion the future.”

Issued a statement? Those so-called cops who refused to believe her story need to be removed from their posts and be properly trained, or if appropriate, fired, and their bosses reprimanded as well.

It's idiotic to believe that the cops wouldnt have at least checked her story out.

23 ( +24 / -1 )

Now that's some fine policework.

22 ( +22 / -0 )

Given that the hospital believed her you have to wonder what the "chronic illness" is. But the cops not following up three different times? That's just incompetence that beggars belief.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

You can literally get away with murder or anything else in Japan.

15 ( +16 / -1 )

It's idiotic to believe that the cops wouldnt have at least checked her story out.

So either the article is not true or we're all idiots?

You're right though... all officers involved including commanding officers need to be thoroughly reviewed. I'm wondering how many victims of crime report things and the police just go "oh yeah, whatever". That should NEVER happen.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

I have never worked as a police officer but do they get so many false reports that real ones become unbelievable? Or is it just pure laziness? Same thing happened with the wanted Aum member who tried to turn himself in.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

Lazy and or stupid police

12 ( +12 / -0 )

The wife, after having confessed that she had killed her husband, returned home and slept(?) a whole night before returning to confess again... Terrifying things are going on, fair folks, terrifying...

It seems that Japanese modernity consists of at least one public entity committing partial "seppuku" each and every week. To respect the same people who dismiss the murder notification as the "prank" of sorts... the decent police that is left is going to have it rough.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

unbelievable! They should have at least investigated. 3 times??

9 ( +9 / -0 )

The police not in the mood to work.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

@dadude

if it's really true that police have so many weirdos confessing to murders and serious crimes they didn't do, then we are really living in the twilight zone.

but think about it.

How many times yo they stop a completely normal looking person to check their bike ?

Id rather confirm a murder confession than an obaachans bike.

I know a 65 yr old America woman who gets her bike checked every year.

No excuses. They're just dumb and lazy.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Should have taken a selfie standing next to the body holding the day's newspapers or, even better, brought the dead body over to the koban in a wheelbarrow. Unforgivable oversight on her part.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I can't understand the charge either, because she had been trying to report the murder since the time it happened.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

She should have just ridden her bike around. They would have stopped her in no time.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

What excellent police work by the keystone cops!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

These cops sound like they came out of the Simpsons. I can picture not one but three Japanese chief Wiggums standing there sending her away. It's so rediculous I can't help but laugh.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Maybe she should have went to the police and stated "I did NOT kill my husband!".

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Doesn't bode well for any victims reporting a crime, if they refuse to listen to a person admitting to committing one.

Those coppers should get the sack.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The keystones went above and beyond here.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Given that police are usually infamous for forcing confessions, being turned away 3 times are very curious instances.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lazy, inept, useless police officers seem abundant here.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I have worked as a police officer, for a decade. False reports are rare, because the penalty for making a false report is often more severe than the crime being reported. I have always laughed at people who hide the serial numbers of things they are selling online, because they fear someone will use the number to create a false theft report. Filing a false report is a felony, while stealing anything from a phone to a car is a misdemeanor.

Laziness is the greater factor in this case. Compared to American police, who tend to be backlogged with calls at most times of the day, Japanese patrol officers have little to do. When you have little to do, you tend to want continue doing little; objects (or people) in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest. An American officer might be reluctant to respond to certain kinds of calls, like breaking and entering and such, because the time and paperwork required are substantial, while the charge if you happen to catch the culprit is minimal enough that they'll likely be released by the judge without spending a night in jail. On the other hand, no American officer would refuse to respond to a serious case like this one. Having a murderer confess their crime to you unsolicited is a sure way to get a rather large positive mark on your personnel file, without having to go to the substantial work of responding to a call, filing the report, trying to identify and find a suspect, and, if found, get them to admit to what they did, or slip under questioning.

I am amazed at the amount of trouble and bureaucracy one must go through to get things like a drivers license or other things in Japan, but apparently the same rigor is not applied to the selection and hiring of police officers. Having been a police officer myself, I can tell you that the minimum requirements for the job are not high, and that many policemen are less intellectually capable or sensible than your average law-abiding person. But in time, even the least capable of policemen become fairly accurate judges of human character, because you are dealing with crime and criminals all the time. The same is apparently not so true in Japan, where there is little crime, and that being the case, police don't develop that intuition which comes in handy when odd situations come up.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

maybe it was their 10th confession of the day and they were just tired?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Perhaps the police here only want to believe forced or coerced confessions?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Lack of training, lack of effective management, lack of common sense. Lack of community care.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

If it was a one off it would be bad enough. Really bad.

But 3 times??!! That's truly astonishing. I mean, you could hardly make this stuff up.

On the upside, it's great to know that Hospital staff are more on the ball. That's where I will head next time I have a serious crime to report. Doesn't look as though the Police will mind at all either, given their general collective apathy towards their duties.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Only in Japan.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Yeah, Keystone cops....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Police here only believe confessions after they've beaten it out of an uncooperative suspect.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Haven't read if these cops are fired.  Expect more cops will ignore any crimes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"what's that boy? Fire at the old mill hotel?" "Wan Wan (bark bark)." "Well...I don't believe you."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The lazy cops work for Tokyo.  I wonder how Koike governor will handle this.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's one thing being incompetent and ill-eqqiped to catch killers....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am not going to defend the police. Because there are too many times where they just ignore things because following up is too mendokusai.

However, here is the fact that may partly explain it. The woman lived in Saitama City. The police boxes / offices she visited were all in Tokyo. Look at where Saitama-shi is in relation to Kita ku or Akabane.

So, they may well have thought she was nuts. I mean, why would she go there to report the murder. And it meant that they couldn't just get on their bike and visit her home. Which meant that they would have had to contact the police in Saitama-shi to follow up.

Doesn't excuse what they did / didn't do, just making an observation.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

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