crime

Teen murder suspect committed 'unforgivable' act, says father

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If someone is genuinely suffering from some mental illness that prevents them from knowing the difference between right and wrong, then there isn't really anything to forgive or not forgive. It's not appropriate to blame or punish anyone for actions that they weren't truly in control of.

Understandably, people such as parents and schools are reluctant to label children as insane and take steps to institutionalize them to protect society. If mental illness didn't carry such a stigma, I wonder if the local gov't would have acted on the psychiatrist's advice. It's a bit of a cliche, but I blame society to a large extent.

-1 ( +11 / -12 )

I think the father also committed an unforgivable act by refusing to do what was necessary to get his daughter off the streets. With so many warning signs, including being beaten by her with a bat and a psychiatrist's warning, to do nothing was a crime in itself.

29 ( +31 / -4 )

Not to blame the father too much, but what has he done to help his daughter through her mother's death? Obviously she was going through some sort of depression. And what did he do after the psychiatrist told him that she might kill someone if nothing is done?

He says that his daughter's action were unforgivable (which the are) but what about his inactions? Not going to school, living by herself at age 16, and having homicidal thoughts is an obvious cry for help. Sure its easy to criticize and condemn the actions, but as a parent of a minor . he has some responsibility in this as well!

10 ( +16 / -7 )

Children are not born crazy. They are products if their environment. The fact that the kid was living alone at 15 years old clearly shows her relationship with her parents was bad. Bad parents make bad kids! It's as simple as that! So, this guy can keep his self-pitying comments to himself cos he should be accepting responsibility for raising a psychopathic child!

-7 ( +12 / -20 )

The paper said the girl’s mother died of cancer last year, and she began living on her own after her father remarried about three months ago.

wow

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Maybe madness resides in everybody's mind. After all we human beings are also brutal animals. Human beings created the civilized society but it is not enough. We have to make efforts constantly to hold down our innate animal nature.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

With these details, the father certainly seems not to be facing his own fault in this. In fact, he seems disgraceful. Imagine the immense sense of abandonment even a well-adjusted 15-year-old would feel at losing her mother, and then being sent to live alone while her only surviving parent chooses to be with his new bride. That's simply cruel.

And then imagine doing this to a girl who already shows signs of mental instability. May as well have just pushed her off a cliff.

And for the capper, he apparently does nothing in response to reports that she is dangerous and in need of treatment. And now, in the aftermath, he publicly condemns his daughter. This creature called her "father" disgusts me.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

A psychiatrist, who had examined the accused, told a local child consultation office weeks before the murder that the girl could kill someone if left untreated, news reports said.

And no action was taken?

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Of course it's unforgivable, but as a father you stick by your children through thick and thin. It's not him that's meant to be forgiving anyway, I don't know why he's bringing it up.

Violent crime is still relatively rare in Japan,

That's a myth. It appears that way because violent street crime is uncommon, but violent crime within the home is extremely common.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

@NeoJamal

My thoughts exactly....seems like this father had some action going on on the side, even when the mother was alive. The daughter was probably distraught over the whole situation and felt as if she was being thrown away. I kind of feel bad for her, but still the murder is way to gruesome to ignore.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

She also killed cats as a child according to news 6. This girl is very sick, and it is not from being raised wrong. Some people are born broken.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Mental illness undiagnosed...thumbs (again) down anyone? I've been getting a lot of this whenever I mentioned mental illness in my comments in the past....strange.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Children are not born crazy.

This is so wrong on so many different levels. First off by your assumption here you are stating that people with mental illness acquired their illness by some other means. Ever hear of DNA? Ever hear of being born with a congenital birth defect? Not all defects or illnesses are visible, and it's very possible this girl was born with a serious mental disease.

It's obvious that her parents are partially to blame, this girl had problems since ES, and what treatment was she given? She was diagnosed as being a potential threat to others weeks ago....and what steps were taken?

The signs were there, and the family did nothing it seems to care for her properly. One does not send a mentally ill person, particularly at 16 years of age, to live on their own.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I think too much blame here is being thrown on the dad.

0 ( +6 / -7 )

Bad parents make bad kids! It's as simple as that!

BULL....so then "good parents" make "good kids", I can share with you countless numbers of stories that debunk both sides of this argument.

Parents are to blame for some things yes, but to make the blanket ASSumption here that you have is ludicrous.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

Glad to have more information. Not glad to have even more wild assumptions in the comments.

I am a bit surprised to hear a psychiatrist actually determined that she was likely to kill someone, and yet the girl was left free to do it. Are there no legal obligations when such a statement is made by a psychiatrist?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The media seems to put things on a slant.

It says that he remarried 3 months later but it does NOT indicate if they had divorced prior to the mother's death which could mean that he did not reside with his daughter anyway.

Futhermore, this articles lacks information describing any kind of family court ruling that may have kept the father OUT of the relationship, such as visitation rights.

Without this information, readers can only speculate that the father was negligent INSTEAD of the more obvious culprit that "family law" did not allow the father to play an active role in this child's life.

Read the article again and recognize what information is lacking before you immediately judge the father.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Sometimes I think Hammurabi and his code might useful in certain situations such as this one. On the other hand could just be emotions talking.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I think too much blame here is being thrown on the dad.

How so? He failed in his job as a father to ensure that his daughter received treatment for her mental illness, which if you read the article goes way back to when she was in ES. Then his wife dies and he gets remarried within months of her death, which also says an awful lot without it actually being written here about where HIS mind was at, it obviously wasn't with his daughter THAT is for sure. Then his daughter is diagnosed as being a threat to others weeks ago.....and she still is allowed to live alone?

What kind of Dad is that? (Wait I know...biological only, because a FATHER would never have allowed his child to go out on their own knowing that they have these mental issues that need to be treated.)

It's very possible that in this case this girl may not be mentally competent, and should be institutionalized. But like with so many other so-called parents here in Japan (and other places I am sure too) the stigmatism of having a child being diagnosed with mental illness is a direct sign against themselves as well and too many are unwilling to accept it and just ignore the problems until it's way too late.

Believe me there are many other people out here in Japan like this 16 year old, I'm just surprised in a way that it doesnt happen more often. This is a chance for the government to start educating people about illnesses such as this and to teach society to change....never gonna happen....but it would be nice.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Forgiveness is not something that just happens. Some people find it helpful to release the anger while others find the idea disgusting. Forgiveness has to come from within. It is not something that can be forced. Either you can do it or you can't. If you cannot then don't think that you are bad person or that you failed in some way. In some cases those that want to forgive do it to make family functions seem normal and is also a way of freeing themselves and it acts as a catalyst for healing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

the girl had not simply cut the head and wrist, she also opened her insides and had a look, she then changed clothes because it was stained with blood but she was with the corpse for 7 hours doing research...and she had no sense of remorse nor guilt. She just said she wants to see what is inside. She really is on another world.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Yes, the girl may very well have been born "broken." And it must be extraordinarily stressful and difficult to deal with a child with these sorts of issues. Yet, that doesn't absolve the father. He clearly made no effort to help, and his comments after the murder suggest that he still doesn't accept even a bit of responsibility. If he had been helping, and responding to the mental health expert who warned the girl might be homicidal (I mean, how much clearer can warnings get?), then he would have my sympathy. Sure, a lot is missing from this story, but there is enough to see that this guy is far from being father of the year.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

I have a daughter..this brings tears to my eyes.Poor parents

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"This girl could kill someone if left alone" mother dies, father peaces out and doesn't do shit, let's his crazy daughter live on her own as if she was some responsible model child.

YEPPP. The fathers role in this is as bad as the daughter's IMO. And yes I know how much that is saying.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

To answer why the father wrote this. The press had been full of criticism from the public, including readers here, who wondered why the father was keeping silent.

The message he wrote above was a statement to his lawyers, and is directed at, or conscious of, the family of the victim, which is why he says that her actions are unforgivable. They would most likely not accept or read a letter from him directly, which is why he said he would at some point like to write to them personally. The above statement must be a general attempt at breaking the ice.

Many of the questions readers have been posting here have been addressed in the J media since the original story broke. For example, the father is said to have consulted several different psychiatrists about his daughter. He was advised that she would go on to kill someone and the advice was passed on to the local authorities, who took no action. It was a doctor/psychiatrist who suggested in consultation that she be moved into her own apartment, for the safety of the rest of the family.

The girl herself said she was glad to have a new mother and she welcomed her into the family. The attack on her father with the baseball bat was for a 'different reason', she allegedly said.

I agree that some children are born with a screw loose and no amount of good parenting can change that. I am guessing that it was a case of too little, too late, but the father seems to have consulted every known commonsense, (to him anyway) avenue, and must surely have been at his wits' end. The lack of action by the local authorities and the apartment suggestion seem to be some of the critical links in this horribly sad story.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Yet, that doesn't absolve the father. He clearly made no effort to help

How do we know he did not? The girl was see a psychiatrist, which may have been part of the "help". The girl previously tried to murder her father with a baseball bat, so I have some sympathy with him not wanting to live with her! However, he was clearly remiss in not reporting the incident and for allowing her to be unsupervised.

The "system" was also clearly remiss in this regards - she earlier tried to poison students at elementary school and had killed a cat, apparently one of the best indicators of emerging violent psychopathy. The local services should have put her in some form of residential care, where she could be supervised.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Bad parents make bad kids! It's as simple as that!

If only it were that simple. Troll through a list of serial killers and find that many came from totally "normal" homes. Some people are just broken.

I wouldn't totally excuse the father by any means since he should have been paying extra attention to his troubled daughter in the wake of her mother's death. But this article states that the girl had been diagnosed as a danger to society by a mental health professional weeks before the murder took place. Some action should have been taken at that point - by force if necessary.

My heart goes out to the victim's family. How they must be suffering. RIP Aiwa.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Look at an in-depth report, including the text of the father's statement (not all of it is reproduced here) before you say he didn't do enough. He had her to several doctors. I think the school officials who did nothing after 5 attempted poisonings and the cat also have responsibility, as well as whoever it was who ignored the psychiatrist who said she was likely to kill someone.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Last paragraph, "Violent crime is still relatively rare in Japan", but over in the other article it says Osaka police underreported local crimes by 81,000, so how do we know if crime is really rare or just underreported?

Re commitment of the girl to an institution prior to the crime, if it's anything like USA, it can be really difficult to do. People can be totally nuts in front of relatives, then act sane around judge, cops, social workers, without prior serious crimes subjects can refuse commitment in such cases. Another difficulty in US is possibility, highlighted recently especially, of police shooting mentally ill people waving around minor weapons like scissors or vegetable peelers. Lot of relatives would rather suffer now, and remain uncertain of the future, than have the possibility of that outcome.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

oikawaAUG. 04, 2014 - 08:16AM JST That's a myth. It appears that way because violent street crime is uncommon, but violent crime within the home is extremely common.

You know this... because... ? Completely unquantifiable comment, based on assumptions you're making.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

A psychiatrist, who had examined the accused, told a local child consultation office weeks before the murder that the girl could kill someone if left untreated

She lived by herself, why didn't the city or government do something about this? A minor can not live by themselves... this has as much to blaim on the people that didn't do their jobs!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Her father should not be forgiven in all this, not the pure girl, who clearly has had mental disorders since long ago.

The paper said the girl’s mother died of cancer last year, and she began living on her own after her father remarried about three months ago.

Three big shocks in his daughter's life inside one year, two of them are because of his irresponsibility.

Her mother died of cancer. He gets married with another woman, after six months, without having time to show his daughter that he loved her mother, and life should go on, because they have each-other. In contrary, he makes her live on her own, because he wanted to have undisturbed sex with his new wife. (Ok! The reason is my guess)

Japan society, if new cultures are accepted inside this country, something has to be changed in education, as well. DO NOT MARRY BECAUSE EVERYBODY IS GETTING MARRIED. MARRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE FAMILY AND RAISE HEALTHY KIDS.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Its sad, but what is done is done. There is no point in trying to find out what caused her to do this, if it was her genes or environment. She is captured now, there is no point in wasting time, money or effort to rehab her. She is a psycho killer, she should be put down NOW like a rabid dog or she WILL end another's life in the future. I'm sure I sound cold but its better to take out one dangerous nutcase than lose someone that may be a productive member of society. To those who think she can be helped and made normal, I hope she is let loose near your family and see how it feels when she takes out your loved one. Putting her down is the only logical way for the safety of everyone.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Who was paying the kids rent and daily necessities ? Except she held an arubaito that she could enough to pay her rents and other needs.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

With the mental health system the way it is (non-existent as far as I can tell), where was the father supposed to put this little psychopath? Do they HAVE mental hospitals in Japan? Has anyone seen one? I haven't. No doubt if there is one, it is prohibitively expensive...so what is one to do?

After a little research, I found there are apparently 344,000 hospital beds for mental patients in Japan!

Source: (www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/07/07/editorials/solution-mental-patients/) According to a 2011 survey by the ministry, 323,000 people were registered as inpatients at Japanese mental hospitals. Some 200,000 of them had been hospitalized for more than one year. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that this number is conspicuously high among its 34 industrialized member countries. In addition, some 65,000 mental patients had been hospitalized for more than 10 years.

So there DOES appear to be places to put such people here in Japan. Question: Why didn't the father put her in one?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Yikes... & she was scheduled to study abroad for year. Home stay parents saved!!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

MARRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE FAMILY AND RAISE HEALTHY KIDS.

Marry with responsibility yes all for it. Marry to raise healthy kids.....not a good enough reason to get married in my opinion.

If all you want out of marriage is kids, then I feel sorry for both you and your partner, there is a hell of a lot more to marriage than just making and raising kids.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sorry but poisoning food is grounds for expulsion. She should have been nowhere near that school and this may have never happened. If I knew my classmate did this in the past, I would stay far far away from them.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"The paper said the girl’s mother died of cancer last year, and she began living on her own after her father remarried about three months ago.

She had only attended class a handful of times since then, the Yomiuri said.

Violent crime is still relatively rare in Japan, but several high-profile cases involving young people have heightened public concern."

There is much more to this story than will be told, this girl has had a rough life... The dad pretty much threw her to the curb.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I heard that the parents had too much "pride" to seek treatment for her.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@nandakandamanda

Thanks for the back-story. Horrifying that a medical professional would recommend she live alone. Kind of like saying "If you put her in her own place, she'll be less likely to kill you in your sleep." Without thinking who she might choose as her alternate victim. Horrible all around. She should have been in a secure mental hospital - don't know why that didn't happen.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Children are not born crazy. They are products of their environment.

My students and I quite often debate about nature vs. nurture. We end up agreeing that we want to believe that a child's environment is far more formative than a child's DNA ... but we can't quite believe it.

The mothers that I am acquainted with are of the firm opinion that their children's basic temperaments were already 95% developed at birth, and they had, if they were lucky, 5% left to work with.

This whole sorry story puts me in mind of the novel "We Need to Talk About Kevin."

Some children are bad seeds. That's the way it is.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The facts of this case tells us, the system doesn't work! Since when do parents decide to abandon their children because their getting remarried? If the girl had a history of violence, where were the authorities? The hole thing stinks!! If I were the parent of the victim, I would consider a liable suit against the father of the accused. She was a minor and left unsupervised!! He is also responsible for this horrible act!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No "Dark Passenger"???

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Her actions, while being terrible and tragic, are in fact quite forgivable if she turns out to have been severely mentally ill, which seems highly probable.

This is diminished responsibility, to the point that psychosis drives the actions of the person involved, rather than conscious choice or any sense of rational decision-making.

We should feel sorry for the family of the victim first and foremost, but also for the killer, if this turns out to be the case.

What a terrible situation for everyone having to deal with it.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

So the authorities and families will not do anything to help the mentally ill because it will be a bad stigma on the family. But having a murderer in the family because of lack of mental health care is a good stigma? Hmmmm ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

She is captured now, there is no point in wasting time, money or effort to rehab her. She is a psycho killer, she should be put down NOW like a rabid dog or she WILL end another's life in the future.

The same could be said for the 14 year-old Kobe killer back in 1997. Back then, I pretty much thought exactly the same. Actually he was released back in about 2005 after having turned out normal in the end and as far as we know, has not committed any further crime.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Actually he was released back in about 2005 after having turned out normal in the end and as far as we know, has not committed any further crime.

That's just it. We don't know anything about the Kobe Killer at all: where he is, or what he is doing (although rumours abound). Therefore, we have no idea of whether he has committed any further crime or not (and let me tell you, rumours abound about that, too. Pretty awful ones).

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Doesn’t matter if mentally ill or not or whether she was drunk or braindead. You are always responsible for your actions and should be held accountable for them. Doesn’t mean that you are necessary “guilty” in a legal or moral sense, though.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

hindsight is 20/20 - just have to contain the damage and hope this teaches other people not to be passive and just leave things be.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Too many people trying to saying it is all the dad's fault. The only thing you can charge him with is something proven in a court of LAW. It isn't against the law to get a divorce and remarry (yet). Or to ignore your kids beyond the required funding. And we don't even know that he did that. Focus instead on how we can get the brat to hang.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The kid was putting bleach in her classmates' food well before her mother died.

She is a sociopath, and no doubt was born this way.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

She was born crazy and her parents knows this, can't blame the father for choosing to step away from her.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sounds like a psychopath--cool, calculating, goal-oriented, unable to feel stings of conscience, cruel without knowing the meaning of the word because they are incapable of empathy, the regret they feel is not moral but only practical if a plan goes wrong. They usually choose victims carefully or for a personal reason. There is evidence this condition is due to nature and underdevelopment of empathetic centers in the brain. Psychopaths because of their cool "smart" nature can succeed at crimes and also in the business/corporate world and in that case may dismember people emotionally and economically rather than physically. They cannot be cured.

Sociopaths, on the other hand, become so through nurture and environment. It is a learned response. They are capable of empathy for a chosen few and are less calculating; their crimes more often the result of "snapping" or outbursts, victims are more often random strangers than family or acquaintances. Sociopaths have more hope of success with rehab/counseling than psychopaths do.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Maybe he shouldn't have left her living alone at the age of 16.....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Too many people trying to saying it is all the dad's fault.

Legally he may not be liable, morally speaking, he sure the hell is at fault for not ensuring that his daughter received proper treatment.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to today's paper, the parents actually tried to have her admitted to a mental hospital on the very day before the attack.

The hospital refused, saying that giving her a private room would be "troublesome"....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The hospital refused, saying that giving her a private room would be "troublesome"....

Typical, I guess I can't completely blame the parents then. Assuming it wasn't the first time they tried. However, I'm guessing the father impregnating his girlfriend while his wife was dying of cancer made them prime targets for her first kill(s), and this is why she was living alone.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

the father abandoned his daughter and neglected her and drove her literaly crazy. He is responsible as much as she is. I am sorry to see that the coverage does not notice and point out this important fact. Often such terrible situations are not analyized carefully.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

the father abandoned his daughter and neglected her and drove her literaly crazy. He is responsible as much as she is. I am sorry to see that the coverage does not notice and point out this important fact. Often such terrible situations are not analyized carefully.

Obviously you didn't read the entire story or any of the above posts. She was crazy well before he abandoned her. That said, it was his responsibility to get treatment for her. And giving her a place of her own also made it easier to (partially) accomplish her goal of dissecting a human being.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Selchuk Driss, you obviously have ZERO understanding of mental illness, if you believe, as you say, that people who are mentally ill are always responsible for their actions (and I don't believe that yo really think that). Obviously, depending on the case, they may well not be, and fortunately the legal systems of civilised countries do not share your prejudice.

We need to understand and treat mentally ill people, and understand that they are ill, not evil.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Legally he may not be liable, morally speaking, he sure the hell is at fault

And this matters why? You going to start a PSA reminding fathers to take care of their kids?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

And this matters why? You going to start a PSA reminding fathers to take care of their kids?

It matters because no matter what BS the father puts out he COULD very well be held liable if the victims parents decide to press charges. As the father, he could be held liable due to the fact that his daughter is a minor.

So go take your condescending comments somewhere else.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well you are basically saying there could be private lawsuits. Maybe so, but this does not change the criminal case that will happen against the daughter. Some of us are more concerned that justice not give any special breaks for women or teenagers after the legal age of majority.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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