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Girl stabs stepmother for hiding her smartphone

44 Comments

Police in Sapporo have arrested a 19-year-old girl on suspicion of stabbing her stepmother who hid her smartphone.

According to police, the suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor, was quoted as saying, "I don't care if I'm arrested. I wanted to kill her because she hid my smartphone," Sankei Shimbun reported.

The girl is suspected of stabbing her stepmother in her shoulder and back in the livingroom of their home in Kita Ward at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The mother is in a stable condition in hospital.

After the girl attacked her mother, she called police using her smartphone.

She told police she has hated her stepmother ever since her father married her.

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44 Comments
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I have a feeling that this has nothing to do with a smart phone.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

Why is a woman treating a 19-year-old like a pre-teen by hiding her phone? That sounds childish.

That said, don't stab people, folks. They're both wrong, but the stabby one is wrong in a "she'll get locked up" way.

14 ( +19 / -5 )

Well, considering she called the police with the smartphone, I guess she got it back, at least temporarily.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

This goes deeper than just a smart phone being taken away. It speaks of where they were as a relationship of step mother and daughter.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Kids are so spoiled these days. I didn't even have a cell phone, let alone a smart phone until I was in my late twenties. It just goes to show how social media "can" tear society apart, especially among younsters if not regulated properly

7 ( +15 / -8 )

Two hens in a house can be trouble.

7 ( +13 / -6 )

It's so difficult to be s real mother of child who doesn't have a blood relation ship. Even you got remarried after children reach the age of reason. I think it's better you act as a stepmother forever, not a real mother.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Step mum was trying to show she is the boss i guess only to find out shes wrong. People are so hooked to these things its scary. I have couples in my place having a meal together but both glued to these things. Smart phone is a ironic term for me considering the amount of time people spend on these things and the trivia involved. Baka phone or Zombie phone would be a better name imo.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

wow...what the what...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

19 years old huh... Japan really needs to get on the, "18 makes you accountable as an adult in the eyes of the law." as far as criminal actions go.

I do believe the mother should have known the young lady was old enough to not be treated like a kid, and shouldn't have taken the phone. But another question is, was her daddy still paying for the service for her? Gotta teach these folks some responsibility.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Take away a person's cell phone, you basically take away their social life. I bet a lot of people don't even know where their friends live anymore, cause they just contact them via phone or mail all the time. Plus, most people don't even have a back up of the information. If people call you and send messages but get no reply, they just write you off.

It was very different when I was 19. Parents ban from the house phone you just go use a pay phone. Your important friend's numbers were stored in the wetware between your ears. If your friend called, your parents gave them the message that the phone was banned to you. Then they came to find you. Not that that could happen when I was 19, but it could at younger ages.

And 19? Should be a legal adult. The girl should be getting attempted murder charges depending on how bad the stab woulds are. But the stepmother should be charged with theft because as the legal adult she SHOULD be, you don't just take and hide their phone.

But we all know there have been lots of other issues besides the phone right? Had to be. My guess is the stepmother is a proper idiot judging by the confiscation of a 19 year old's phone. I also guess the teen was a proper idiot judging by her stabbing her step mother no matter how shallowly the stabbing might have been.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Maria,

My sincere apologies. It was indeed Mirai just below your post that the comment should have attributed to. Again, my apologies.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Who was paying the bill for this "smart" phone?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

19 and should be paying her own bills.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Totally agree with Wc626. I get to see my little family on week-ends only, but clearly as a man, I am the only one able to make some thigs go straight. If you think that a male is a female or conversely, then you know nothing about life. I am just playing my natural role and my kids have never suffered, nor my wife, and they like me for that. Spend time and discuss. Don't let things rot.

And the phone, for an un-smart girl, was not a good idea. My rule is you need to deserve first before getting anything.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

@LFRAgain - not me who wrote the above. Check your source.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

That was the straw that broke the camel's back

3 ( +4 / -1 )

It sounds like there's a lot more going on here than a fight over a smartphone. I hope this girl receives the mental help she clearly needs as a result of this arrest.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I wonder if she will stab the police officers who has probably taken her cellphone now?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Maria,

It just goes to show how social media "can" tear society apart, especially among younsters if not regulated properly

It goes to show no such thing. We have absolutely no reason to believe that using social media led this girl to stab her stepmother. The article does, however, point out a more likely reason for the violence. She told the police that she hated her stepmother ever since she married her father. Clearly, the issues here are between this girl and her stepmother, and not with social media.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

After the girl attacked her mother, she called police using her smartphone.

Was she trying to do the right thing or she thought her stepmother was going to call the police anyway? If her stepmother turned out to want sorting things out behind closed doors rather than alerting the police. Then I would say this girl has made a terrible mistake.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well at least she has admitted to attempted murder. That should expedite the legal process. Bye bye smartphone, hello prison/psychiatric cell.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@smith

You're adding your own subjectivity to this

Pot meet Kettle

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I remember when i closed my Facebook account in 2008 a iphone/facebook social media fan guy i new was shocked and said "you will cease to exist" well im still here. Du Dar....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

No word ... internal family matters ...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

She told police she has hated her stepmother ever since her father married her.

Yup. And for all those years the father prob didn't even notice.

Why is a woman treating a 19-year-old like a pre-teen by hiding her phone? That sounds childish.

Rigjt, it is very childish. But mums acting this way (in a quasi-warped society here) is not so unusual these days.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

“I wanted to kill her because she hid my smartphone,” Sounds like another psycho who does not know where to put life value, she will do it again...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

totally bonkers!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Over a bloody phone? Good lord, what's wrong with these kids... stabbing and killing family members for the least thing.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The title is of the article contains an ambiguity - we don't know whose phone was hidden. It's common sense, granted, but it's still slipshod journalism.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Stepmom .... one has to understand... that when you marry, you marry the "whole family"!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Geez, you probably don't like someone at all but to try and kill them for hiding your phone is overboard.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

How did the kid find her smart phone to call the police? Something missing from the story of a very sick and nearly fatal relationship.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It speaks of where they were as a relationship of step mother and daughter.

It speaks of how typically the father (often a workaholic) was so unaware of their relationship right under his own nose. Always clueless, but hey- for the sake of "harmony" let's bottle up our bitter feelings until we reach the threshhold.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Girl stabs stepmother for hiding her smartphone

That's a bit..............drastic.

I wanted to kill her because she hid my smartphone,” Sankei Shimbun reported.

And that's the problem with many teenagers today. Not enough good old fashioned discipline, before they become like this little brat

0 ( +4 / -4 )

She is 19 so why didn't she move out?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Tired of seeing 18+ year olds labelled as 'minors'. She's 19 - she's not a kid!

She may not be a kid, but she is a minor.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why in Japan lately so many family members taking one another out

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Tired of seeing 18+ year olds labelled as 'minors'. She's 19 - she's not a kid!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The unspoken story here has to be that the Father was paying the smart phone bill and depriving his wife of funds.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Mirai Hayashi: "It just goes to show how social media "can" tear society apart, especially among younsters if not regulated properly"

BS! Who even says she is using 'social media'? You're adding your own subjectivity to this. All we know is that a 'girl', who is technically a minor though she should be charged as an adult, is the latest to pull a "snap for no reason and try to kill someone" that we see here all the time. Not long ago it was a middle aged man killing his father for not passing the remote. Different piece of equipment, same inability to think and poor judgement. The problem is not social media or the device they are fighting over, it's the complete and utter lack of respect for human life.

And this psycho won't be punished for it for any more than a few months, max, because of her age, while the step mother will suffer for some time, and then possibly in fear for much longer when the daughter is allowed to go back and live with them.

-4 ( +8 / -12 )

Since it is very easy to condemn the girl and make all the usual statements about not stabbing people, let's look at this from a different angle.

Suppose the story said: "Stepmother tries to gag daughter, gets stabbed." or "Stepmother tries to prevent daughter from normal socialization, gets stabbed."

Would we not have a bit more sympathy for the daughter? If so, in the modern world with its dependence on smartphones, is not hiding one's smartphone dangerously close to this territory?

Just a thought.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Stabbing is never the answer HOWEVER stepmom should not have taken the phone.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

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