High school student arrested for stabbing father in Chiba

WoW !!! Son protecting mother, this time he should get an suspended sentence. I would recommend this. Domestic violence destroyes everyone at home. He must have seen some horrifc abuse from his father. Very sad. This whole family need counseling, and the father needs to go to jail.

Yep, the lad made a huge mistake. Lets hope they move on and sort it out because I can only imagine the dude will be moving out or will kick them out now.

May not be so easy to throw dad to the curb if he is the one paying the rent. That is why, I guess, these kinds of abusers are often tolerated.

If the Boso Peninsula didn't make the news anylonger, it would've ceased to exist.

uh? so the breadwinner of the family has the right to abuse the mother and the other child? Except for the stabbing part( I allude it to the hormones of the 18year olds) the son was right in a way. Instead of abusing the wife, the husband could get her to contribute to the family income by doing atleast part-time.

Instead of abusing the wife, the husband could get her to contribute to the family income by doing atleast part-time.

? Where does it say the wife didn't work, and that that was the reason for the abuse? It's understandable for non-working wives to be abused?

Well, now that the matter has gotten some serious attention (ie. the abuse, via the boy stabbing the abuser), hopefully it will be sorted out in a serious fashion. The boy was not correct in stabbing his father, and he needs to face the consequences of what he did, but hopefully they are not too hard on him; it seems like he felt desperate. The only real danger here is that the son is clearly displaying some of the violent nature his father apparently has, and that also has to be held in check (and hence, the necessity of punishment).

Anyway, I was glad to see that no one died, and also that it wasn't over the usual excuses like, "He turned off my internet access," or, "he got angry over my cell phone bill", etc.

If throwing dad to the curb will mean the whole family will become homeless, for example, then that may be why some women tolerate these abusers (pure speculation here). If you have a better explanation please propose it. Also, this is not saying anyone is justified to abuse anyone else, including women who abuse their children and then cover it up.

The police once again twiddled their thumbs when the mother informed them of her husbands abuse. He was abusing his child too. Wow! Ridiculous. They need to do their job properly. As for the boy, not the right kind of action to take but if people are in desperate situations theyll do desperate things. Hopefully, he can be calmed down and this doesn`t ruin his life.

Read the other poster's comment about the father paying the rent, and got carried away into thinking that the father is the one who works. And the rest is all my imagination.

Wow who is the mother gonna stand by and support now?? Abuse by her husband. She consults the police but no charges laid. Her son stabs his father. Must have been some real dustups in that joint. For the sake of your family woman get rid of him (the husband that is).

How do you try to stab a sleeping person and not do it?

How do you try to stab them in two places, cause minor injury and still it is described as "tried" to stab someone?

I don't quite understand why so many people write in about the "Keystone Kops" in this country and yet don't seem to believe they would do NOTHING in case of DV? You better believe they do NOTHING about it! And that the son was probably not only trying to save his mother and brother but that he also must have thought his father's behaviour was an example to follow whenever any kind of "frustration" (whether real or "imaginary") takes over... The poor kid was only trying to help - it's the father who should go to prison - and stay there...

The keystones say (and i quote from firsthand DV experience) we can't do anything unless a crime has been committed.

Who knows what happened... so many conclusions being jumped to. Attempted murder is the obvious issue here. Whether or not the father was violent, this was not an act of self defence, it was an attempted murder on a sleeping man.

If he's beating up his wife and kids... they should call the police, not try to take the law into their own hands. A pre-meditated attempted murder is a much more serious crime than an assault, and "battered wife syndrome" is no excuse for this, as has been tested in many cases.

sirgamble, very funny. First of all, it could very well be that the father abused and then went to have a deep sleep :) Both crimes are equally serious. One coming from a teenager and the other from a well grown adult.

There are far too many cases EXACTLY like this one that go on in the West. And even with the far better access to help in these situations than in Japan (unfortunately), there is still a cultural stigma, victim blaming, and the fear of leaving your spouse because of homelessness or what have you. This isn't a uniquely Japanese thing.

That said, I'm glad no one died, and I feel sorry for this kid. Who knows how long the violence had been going on, he probably had to deal with the pent up anger and fear for a long time. He needs to be made aware of the fact that attempted murder is definitely NOT okay, but I hope they also look into the father's behavior.

womanforwomen : obviously sirgamble doesn't know how to read... He writes : "Whether or not the father was violent"

although the article clearly states :

“I was angry and scared because my father kept abusing my mother and younger brother.”

Hope the father doesnt lose face.

I really wonder what the police said when the woman consulted them. Sounds like both the mother and son had reached a point where they knew something had to be done. It's so sad that it came to this. I can empathize with the boy since he was trying to help; unfortunately by emulating his violent father. But that in no way excuses what he did. There were at least a few other options for this family. The mother could have taken her kids to her parents' house or a possibly a friend's.

Sadly Japan still has a lot of catch up to do in this department considering that laws preventing domestic violence only came about in 2001 and the first shelter for battered women only opened in 1993. I would also guess that there still aren't many shelters.

If he's beating up his wife and kids... they should call the police, not try to take the law into their own hands.

The mother already tried that. The police won't get involved unless a crime is committed (read, someone gets killed). In other words, the police obviously don't consider domestic violence a crime thus fail to do anything about it until too late.

Easy to understand the boy's feelings and his desire to protect his mother and little brother. Yes, obviously attempted murder is the wrong way to get out of the situation. But there needs to be more avenues for people in this type of situation so that they can escape it and not have to fear being left destitute because an abuser has complete power over their lives.

Well the kids as obviously "scared" and "angry" after the abuse of his mother and brother so what could he do?...continue to let it happen?

The mother consulted the police; however the police can only act if she swears out a formal complaint. Until she does the police are prevented BY LAW from acting.

There are so many conflicting emotions which people in her situation have to contend with that when faced with the heart wrenching decision to have ones spouse arrested, many simply can not bring themselves to do it.

In many areas of the U.S. the laws have been changed to regard domestic abuse as a crime against the state. In other words the victim does not have the option of pressing charges against her abuser. It is my understanding that in certain jurisdictions of the U.S. if she speaks to the police about her abuse, that alone is enough for the police to begin an investigation. If she has marks on her body, that constitutes physical evidence. The police would then arrest the husband and the States Attorney would take it from there.

The Japanese police can only do what the law tells them to do. Change the law so that the police can act without a sworn complaint and situations like this may become fewer.

The article never mentioned if the father did anything illegal... This "violence" may have been just yelling and throwing things around. If he did not do anything illegal, that would explain why the cops had no grounds for interfering.

Fightingviking,thanks for pointing it out. I guess, for some people violence can be tolerable and intolerable. Icewind violence is violence. Forget the legal aspect. The 18 year old could not take it.Normally, 18 year olds have high degrees of tolerance of noise and chaos IMO.

I have to admit...at first glance, didn't agree with Icewind. At second glance, realized that Icewind did not mention condoning violence at all but was talking about why the police decided not to get off their butts to do something about it. And unfortunately Icewind may have a point. While violence is wrong, the laws in Japan are far too lax when it comes to domestic violence, violence against women/children, stalking etc. So although they should be doing something about it, current laws don't seem to compel them to unless "a crime was committed"...and far too often, that crime winds up being an irreversible act, like murder.

And hey...maybe I didn't read the article closely enough yesterday or something was edited since I last read it but the last line clearly shows that the mother didn't lay charges when she consulted the police. Hmmm...was that her being hesitant or did they tell her she didn't have grounds to lay charges?

peachy, every human being has a right for some peace atleast in their own homes.We really don't know much about the actual facts of this family. Assuming the wife was the real instigator of all the trouble in the family, I still would not think that she needs to be dealt with in a violent manner. Sad that we adults do not manage our problems well and as result, the children lose their joy.