GSDF member arrested for stabbing woman

Police in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, have arrested a 23-year-old member of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force on suspicion of attempting to kill a 19-year-old woman.

Police said that at around 7:20 p.m. on Sunday, Masaya Yoshimura, who is assigned to the Obihiro base of the GSDF in Hokkaido, stabbed the woman with whom he had been in a relationship, several times in the back and stomach at her house, Fuji TV reported. 

Police said Yoshimura fled from the house on foot. The woman’s father contacted 110 and a police patrol car picked up Yoshimura who was walking along the street about 1.5 kilometers away. Prior to his arrest, Yoshimura also called 110 to say he had stabbed someone.

The woman, who is a vocational school student, was taken to hospital and remained in a stable condition on Monday.

A spokesperson for the GSDF base in Obihiro said Yoshimura had been on leave between Dec 22 and Jan 5 but had not returned to the base on Jan 6.

© Japan Today