crime

Associates shocked at arrest of suspect in 7-year-old girl's murder

45 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

45 Comments
Login to comment

Associates shocked at arrest of suspect in 7-year-old girl's murder

No kidding, so is everyone else in the country as well. But, why didn't alarm bells start ringing after this;

Kobayashi emerged as a possible suspect from an early stage of the investigation as he was referred to prosecutors last month over an alleged violation of the prefecture's juvenile protection ordinance after driving around with a female junior high school student in his car, the source said.

But it sure the hell takes a leap of the imagination to go from driving around with a young teenager in his car to killing an elementary school child.

There is a HELL of a lot the police need to answer for on this. If he was referred to the prosecutors LAST month on different charges, WHY wasn't he in custody?

This horrific murder could possibly have been prevented IF he wasn't walking the streets!

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Isn't that always the typical reaction of neighbors and family members when someone they know is arrested for a horrific crime?

"He was a good boy." "I never suspected him of such things." "He was always quiet, but never thought him capable." And so on and so forth.

Whatever, just hang him high!

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

Whatever, just hang him high!

Give him his day in court first. I for one, if he is found guilty, and found guilty on hard evidence and not just circumstantial evidence or "confession(s)", want to hear his side of the story about why (if) he committed this horrific crime.

>

11 ( +14 / -3 )

I'm shocked too. The scary thing is that you never know who can or will commit such a crime, but I agree with Yubaru that

want to hear his side of the story about why (if) he committed this horrific crime.

I'd like to hear it too

12 ( +15 / -3 )

Psychologists and psychopathologists cannot explain about such horrible crimes despite repetitious happenings. It is a crime but very difficult to understand. We may need explanation by anthropologists.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

If I live here 100 years this is something else I will never understand: confession to a crime.

They never say "I didn't do it". They admit to their crime 100% of the time instead of just saying NOTHING. But what I don't get is they admit to the crime by give some insane like that is so obvious to prove false. We had murder in my parts and the when caught the guy admitted to it.... But said she wanted to die, assisted suicide, sure by being chocked to death, and he was having an affair with her. Suicide... Sure.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Its this kind of crap that makes you look at your neighbors a little bit differently.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Give him his day in court first. I for one, if he is found guilty, and found guilty on hard evidence and not just circumstantial evidence or "confession(s)", want to hear his side of the story about why (if) he committed this horrific crime.

Yubaru

I also agree with you. I studied law and criminal forensics and I LOVE my job. But as everyone knows there are 2 sides to a story. I base everything on HARD EVIDENCE.Anyone would say "I did it" after being deprived of sleep or tricked into saying what is wanted to be heard, but evidence (fingerprints, video footage, witnesses, hair, skin tissue, footprints, ect) makes a case easier to come to an honest verdict. So I want to hear his side of the story as to exactly what happened.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Same as the vietnamese girls case, the locals blame in on a stranger and it turns out to be a local. Glad the've got him, now dont waste any money on him, quick drop with a short stop.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

"an earnest and quiet employee" who had never missed work without a prior notice

and that's about the scope of attention employees receive. People don't know their co workers here the way they do in other countries. So sad for this poor wee girl and her family. Another animal in a quiet earnest sheeps clothing.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for. Hopefully, he will come clean with the details and give the parents some solace.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

"He was a good boy." "I never suspected him of such things." "He was always quiet, but never thought him capable." And so on and so forth.

Whatever, just hang him high!

People said similar things about the Parkland shooter.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Mirai Hayashi Today 08:04 am JST Its this kind of crap that makes you look at your neighbors a little bit differently.

I find that most Japanese people go out of their way to avoid their neighbors. They couldn't tell you the family names of the neighbors on either side of their own home.

8 ( +13 / -5 )

I think a lot of criminals are like this, they look unassuming and pretty normal in everyday life, just like Dr Jekyll. Wonder when will Japan start to make a sexual offenders database or list?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

More monitor cameras throughout the country.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Surprised it is illegal to drive with a junior high dchool girl in your car

7 ( +7 / -0 )

More monitor cameras throughout the country.

While I agree, a camera will not prevent a crime unfortunately. More research needs to be done on why people become like this. There must have been some red flags about him before.

Kobayashi emerged as a possible suspect from an early stage of the investigation as he was referred to prosecutors last month over an alleged violation of the prefecture's juvenile protection ordinance after driving around with a female junior high school student in his car, the source said.

OH wait.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is such a "Sad Story", may peace be with the Girls Parents!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So he was caught driving around with an underage girl previously!! Guess they didn’t have any problem with that, maybe he was just tutoring her or being a mentor right?!

It seems that many people in Japan have no issue with the pedophile culture!

He should have been jailed when they caught him with the minor last time!

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

"Surprised it is illegal to drive with a junior high dchool girl in your car"

Me too. I occasionally have two or three 12 to 15 years old girls in my car who are friends' daughters and their friends. Only local travel, shopping, McDs, 31 etc. and I'm old enough to be their grandfather.

Can anyone who knows clarify this please?

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Absolutely tragic, beyond comprehension - prayers for the little girl and her family and friends from California.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I couldn't agree more to noypikantoku.

Now I don't allow my 6 y/o to wear skirt at school because of this recent killings.

Paranoid parents here.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Talked about this with my Japanese co-worker and I was shocked to discover that Japan doesn’t have a sex offender list or any law to prohibit identified sex offenders from schools, playgrounds, and other places frequented by children.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

want to hear his side of the story about why (if) he committed this horrific crime.

I'd like to hear it too

No thanks. I'm just as happy not to hear his pathetic explanation, and the pointless analysis that will follow. Hang him and move on. These sorts of crimes are often not predictable. The people who commit them are sometimes normal in every other aspect of their lives. I don't think dwelling on it does anyone a service.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Sickening. Blessings for the family

0 ( +1 / -1 )

When you go to combini and see the adult magazine section, you will always see girls in school uniforms. And you will see worse actually when you go to adult themed shops. Yup the model and actresses are maybe 18 and above but what they portray are CHILDREN! They make these actresses look like kids. Yes adult entertainment is fine with me, but it needs to be regulated. Let's admit it, they have effects on many men's minds. These children, school girls, groping and rape themed AVs should be banned totally. If not, crimes like this will continue to happen.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

noyplkantoku

Good point. Men's sexual desire and 7 years old girl do not match in my mind. But, there are people who have strange imaginations.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Good point. Men's sexual desire and 7 years old girl do not match in my mind. But, there are people who have strange imaginations.

Where I came from, the image portray by adult entertianment models and actresses are matured and adult women. Unlike here where half of the genre's are about school children. How can someone get sexually aroused with girls in school uniforms? And it's surprising to see that these DVD shelves are always half empty meaning that many men are really  patronizing these children themed adult videos and these people could be your co-worker, neighbor or could be a family friend who you regularly invite in your home. It's absurd. Japan should commit to make their people understand that patronizing these kinds of perversion is dangerous and unacceptable.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I find that most Japanese people go out of their way to avoid their neighbors. They couldn't tell you the family names of the neighbors on either side of their own home.

My neighborhood is really old school Japan. Everyone pretty much know each other. greet each other, share fruits and vegetables and other foods, etc. It took me a while to get use to it, because as I child, I always had the "don't accept gifts from strangers" thing ingrained in me.

My daughter also occasionally receives candy and other gifts from our neighbors, and my first instinct is to tell her to them "no thank you", but exchanging gifts is really old school Japan culture, and to go against the grain makes you look like an ass....

So, its kind of hard to want your family to be safe while maintaining a good relationship with other and to not offend them. But with that said, its these kinds of incidents that make one wonder if there are any monsters living near by who are looking to hurt your kid.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Last night on TV one of the suspect's elder neighbor was talking about him. It is inaka (province) so people basically know each other. Everybody knew him since small boy. He helped the neighbor in question for her elder husband several times.

It is really devastating not only for the victim but for the trust in humans. Very sad story without rational explanation.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Ashley

Aside that he admitted to it. His car was actually towed 4km away from where Tamaki's body was found according to a surveillance cam & dash board cam of another resident.

So more likely I'd say he is the only suspect at this moment.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I really do hope for everyone’s sake that they have got the right man. Confessions can be extracted from sleep deprivation, hard interrogation etc.

There seems to be a lot of circumstantial evidence in this case, it also worries me, that a previously suspect or ‘person of interest’ had a different description, it was even reported on this site.

On Wednesday evening, a junior high school girl was chased by a man whom she described as being in his 50s on a street about 2 kilometers from Omomo's school. According to her account, the man was wearing black clothes, the official said.

The guy they have in custody at the moment does not look 50. Just to reiterate, I hope they have the right man.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I taught English as an ALT at elementary schools in Niigata last summer and although I didn’t teach at her school, it still sickens me to hear this. This could’ve easily been one of my students. One of my students or not though, I’m deeply saddened to hear about such a something like this happening where I spent 2 months working and living in. I sure hope this deamon gets a life sentence. I also hope in Japan, I don’t know if I can make any suggestions that the government will listen to. I think it’s great that kids in Japan are independent enough to walk to and from school without their parents at such a young age. I sure enjoyed walking to school with them when I got off the train and I sure enjoyed talking to them as they most certainly enjoyed having an English teacher who can actually carry a conversation in Japanese, which most ALTs can’t do. Sure I could be the adult to walk to school with them at times and as much as I would love to beat the crap out of this guy or anyone who has such senseless intentions like this, I signed a contract to be a teacher, not a security guard. I have been back in Tokyo since then July of last year, so it’s not like I could’ve possibly prevented this myself anyways but I hope more cops are around where kids would walk to and from school from now on so this this kind of thing can be prevented from happening in the future. I think it’s great they learn to be independent at such a young age so I am all for continuing to allow them to walk to and from school without their parents, but their safety is way more important than them being independent at a any age, so yes please have more cops in the areas where kids would walk to and from school.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I wonder if the other HS girl is thinking " Jeees, I had a lucky escape?"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The gallows is too good for him. He deserves to die screaming

0 ( +2 / -2 )

This reminds me of the stories you hear about police doing nothing when someone calls about a stalker and wait until there's a murder, with everyone saying, "Who could have known?" The guy was under investigation for engaging with a minor a month ago -- he should have been more closely watched if not already in custody. This isn't a matter of hindsight, it's the usual matter of having no foresight.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

But why did he kill her, a total stranger ?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

from an early stage of the investigation as he was referred to prosecutors last month over an alleged violation of the prefecture's juvenile protection ordinance after driving around with a female junior high school student in his car, the source said.

Key word here is driving around. Imagine them meeting at a store, going to McD's, book stores, who knows, all the while the girl is telling her mom she's studying at a friends

Can anyone who knows clarify this please?

Just a guess. Her mother complained to the police.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Where many of us on JT come from, these kind of incidents are exceedingly rare. So rare indeed that we would automatically infer that the cause must be severe mental illness. In the case of Japan though, where the prevalence of such incidents is almost sufficient to warrant a separate category on JT devoted solely to chronicling them, other than their proclivity to randomly attack unfortunate passers-by, most of them hardly stand out at all from the mass. There’s a chilling normalcy about them. Defective in some way, indeed. But hardly distinguishable from legions of others, who but for the grace of a higher being, might tread the same path given a slightly different set of circumstances.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

My deepest sympathy may the family be comforted by the outpouring of love surrounding them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites