crime

Female part-timer at Sukiya robs own restaurant with hand saw

35 Comments

A 28-year-old woman was arrested for robbery and assault on Thursday, after she allegedly tried to rob the Sukiya fast food restaurant she worked at in Atsugi City, police said.

Keiko Ito, who worked at the store several times a week for the past two years, is accused of entering the store just after 1 a.m. and threatening a 26-year-old male employee with a saw that had a 23-cm-long blade. She locked him in the freezer and took about 220,000 yen from the store’s safe. As she was leaving, the employee forced his way out of the freezer and apprehended her. The man suffered minor injuries to his arm in subduing Ito, but was able to call police and she was arrested at the scene.

Ito entered the restaurant wearing black clothes, a silver helmet and had a white face mask on, which -- coupled with her short hair and medium-build -- led police to believe the assailant was a male when they arrived.

Ito has admitted to the allegation and was quoted by police as saying: “I did it to help my parents repay their debts. No matter how much I worked, we always struggled to get by.”

© Wire reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

35 Comments
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head tilt With a HAND SAW? That's got to be one of the more inefficient weapons I've heard of recently. Useful if you're trying to mug a tree, maybe, but a bit unwieldy and ineffective when it comes to trying to keep a person at bay. Now, if it had been an ELECTRIC saw -- say a skill saw or even a circular saw -- then okay. That's got some serious cutting power.

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Poor guy, I wonder if he saw it coming.

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If one uses a Japanese saw as a weapon, you have to pull the saw towards you in order to cut. Western saws use a push method. If she had two Japanese saws, she could have slapped him across the ears to stun him and not have a need to put him in the freezer to chill out and be cool.

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she should have robbed the place with an MBA. then she would have been promoted and given a taxpayer funded bonus.

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robbed employer with a saw? must have been hacked off about something.

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Way to go Timorborder. On one hand you feel pity and sympathy for a woman who assaults a coworker and robs a place, and on the other you want the legal system to dole out five years of hard labour for someone caught with 0.008 grams of drugs. Hmmmmm, well positioned.

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"how many wall-streeters robbed their own companies with worse than a hacksaw, and got away with nary a slap on the wrist?"

That's because there was no violence involved. Can you believe that?

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how many wall-streeters robbed their own companies with worse than a hacksaw, and got away with nary a slap on the wrist?

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I doubt she would have left the guy to die there.

About timorborder's post, things could be much worse here. There are countries near Japan where people have no food, get shot at all day or have an occasional civil war, the government steals all the money, etc., etc.... I mean, things in Japan are still pretty good relative to other countries.

Also, go back 2-3 generations, and they could know the real hardships that their grandparents and great-grandparents faced. Their country was reduced to ruins, and some even had a nuclear bomb dropped on them. That's real hardship... Life today is like living in a country club compared to that.

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Crime rate has increased in an alarming rate. The driving force of crime is the ongoing hopelessness in the economy. How funny! This time the woman's name is published but the woman of 34 arrested in fraud case of $90 million and 4 suspicious death is highly regarded by the media.

yeah, something really stinks here...I smell discrimination!!! WTF?!

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Dbung:locking them in a freezer isnt cool

are you sure about that one?

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Crime rate has increased in an alarming rate. The driving force of crime is the ongoing hopelessness in the economy.

Actually, it's down.

http://www.npa.go.jp/toukei/seianki8/h21kamihanki.pdf

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Crime rate has increased in an alarming rate. The driving force of crime is the ongoing hopelessness in the economy. How funny! This time the woman's name is published but the woman of 34 arrested in fraud case of $90 million and 4 suspicious death is highly regarded by the media.

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Most walk in freezers would have a door release on the inside to prevent this kind of thing from becoming fatal. Even if the outside latch is locked somebody inside can get out.

Using a Japanese saw as a weapon - that's just nasty. Those things will do damage!

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Well she committed a crime but the greater crime is that of underemployment and hopelessness in Japanese society. This poor lady was desperate enough to rob her own workplace in trying to help out her parents.

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Very sad! if she really locked him in the freezer to die, she did a very bad job as he was able to get out quick enough to catch her before she fled the scene.

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yeah, who hold the phone.. 本当のニュースはどこからかな、はっきり書いてあったら。。。

Who, hold the phone. She locked a dude in the freezer, and was going to leave him there to die? I can understand robbing a store to help out your family, but she could've potentially killed the guy had she left him.

I hope she gets more than a slap on the wrist.

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This is sad.

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An act of total desperation. I can't imagine what kind of pressure would drive a person to do such thing. I assume by 'freezer' they mean a walk-in cooler but still, this was stupid and unnecessarily cruel on the girls part.

I have a feeling that being in debt in Japan is shameful whereas in North American and other countries people's attitude toward debt is that it's just a part of life. We don't know this family's situation, but surely there were better options than this.

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“I did it to help my parents repay their debts. No matter how much I worked, we always struggled to get by.”... She admited her crime and there is also a good reason for her action. Certainly she shouldn't embargoed on such crime, but, thanks to our world economy and leaders she isn't the only one in such situation. I would give her suspended sentence, after all she was trying to help out her parents.

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i totally dig this gal, damn, she had the guts to pull that crap on the very place she works at. LOL!!

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Good post, Timorborder. My thoughts exactly.

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working poor in Japan.

Yeah with their cell phones and flat screen TVs. I just don't know how they manage to survive each day.

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Who said she used an electric saw in her robbery attempt?

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electric saw is too heavy & noisy, lady ... try something light & easier to handle! heheh

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Who, hold the phone. She locked a dude in the freezer, and was going to leave him there to die? I can understand robbing a store to help out your family, but she could've potentially killed the guy had she left him.

I hope she gets more than a slap on the wrist.

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The threat of a hand saw is one thing, but had the employee died in the freezer, murder would be foolish no matter how desperate. Sadly, this economy is and will continue to make criminals out of what would be simply average citizens.

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Classy

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Is it time for the JT Darwin Awards again?

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hahaha, why did she try and do this in fancy dress?

Threatening someone with a saw and then locking them in a freezer isnt cool, no matter how hard you have been working and continue to be struggling.

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Timborder expressed my thoughts exactly. Not much else to say.

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Is the J interpretaion of "Going postal" known as "Going Gyudon"

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She must have looked like a biker version of Jason from the Friday the Thirteenth movies. Face mask, saw, helmet, the whole 9 years. At least she went out in style.

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I never trusted that old saw.

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On one level, this woman's stupidity seems beyond comprehension. At the same time, however, her excuse “I did it to help my parents repay their debts. No matter how much I worked, we always struggled to get by” is a pretty harsh condemnation of the plight of the working poor in Japan.

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