crime

Man arrested after pushing woman off train station platform

17 Comments

Police in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, said Friday they have arrested a 28-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of attempted murder after he pushed a 53-year-old woman off the train platform at Ikoma Station.

A station employee was able to help the woman back up onto the platform before a train arrived, but she sustained minor injuries in the fall, Sankei Shimbun reported.

According to police, the incident occurred at 5:10 p.m. Thursday. Police said the suspect, Tomoyuki Matsuo, has admitted to the charge, and quoted him as saying he knew a train was about to arrive before he pushed the woman whom he did not know. Police said he gave no reason for what he did.

Station surveillance camera footage showed the woman walking along the platform when the suspect pushed her shoulder with both hands from the side. A station employee pushed the emergency button, stopping the next train before it reached the station.

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17 Comments
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Station surveillance camera footage showed the woman walking along the platform when the suspect pushed her shoulder with both hands from the side.

Jobless and getting colder so I'm suspecting he needed a bed and a meal.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

The amount of times I hear about a nut job (usually make) doing this...it’s just frightening. Japanese men are coddled and then when life doesn’t turn out as planned, they take it out on women (most of the time young women). I’m so happy the station employee was quick on their feet and her life was saved.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Just a reminder, 27% of Japanese adults were diagnosed with some kind of mental or emotional illness in 2009. These were only the diagnosed cases. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that at least one third of the people you see at the station every day have mental issues. Obviously, this nutter falls into that 1 in 3 adults demographic. In other countries, you are concerned about who might rob you, but in Japan, you should be worried about who is standing behind you at the station. That's one in three adults. Do not forget it!

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Posters who have never bee to Japan or cant find it on a map wont know that the Kntetsu line usually has attendants on the platform. That attention to detail and customer safety saved this woman. Their uniforms might not be the best , but the workers do a GREAT job as this horrible incidents shows.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Unemployed man? How do you know?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Unemployed man? How do you know?

Because he can read...

Police in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, said Friday they have arrested a 28-year-old unemployed man

5 ( +7 / -2 )

@Disillusioned

There are so many different mental illnesses. And most of these illnesses are a problem for the person concerned.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Another guy that "just wanted to kill someone" - hero train station employee.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@raw beer

It seems the wording on many articles recently (not just this one) often states unemployed man/woman, like several recent articles, man who stole money from a shrine and many others. What if they are working, why the over emphasis that they're unemployed and whether that part is even true or not. Criminals are anywhere

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The weirdo should be locked up for his crime, regardless

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

"I stated that, 27% of Japanese adults had been diagnosed with a mental or emotional illness in 2009. This is a fact posted on this very website in 2009!"

I have actually located the article in question; please do not quote the wrong figures.

It's actually 24% of the Japanese population, in sharp contrast with 45.5% diagnosis for the Australian population.

Study is out there, easier to track it down.

As the old proverb, don't throw stones......

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@ Alex Hutchins

Japanese men are coddled and then when life doesn’t turn out as planned, they take it out on women (most of the time young women)...

This is not just a problem in Japan, men all over the world hurt and kill women because they feel entitled to something they haven't received - money, sex, etc. Just look at the "incel" attacks against women in the US and Canada.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I stated that, 27% of Japanese adults had been diagnosed with a mental or emotional illness in 2009. This is a fact posted on this very website in 2009!

I don't know. Citing a news article and calling it "fact checking" isn't really verifying anything. Citing the primary source to consider it a "fact" is one thing since you want to check out how or what the study was about but I don't think it's wise to state what you said as "fact" when all you base it on was a news article...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm always careful when standing on a train platform. It probably comes from growing up in NY, and taking the subway on a daily basis. I always brace myself when I see the train arriving, so as to make it difficult for anyone that might want to do such a thing to me. I also tend to stand where there is a wall or column behind me, so nobody can get in a direct push. Paranoid? Maybe. But, better safe than under the wheels of a train.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Peeping Tom - It's actually 24% of the Japanese population, in sharp contrast with 45.5% diagnosis for the Australian population

Comparisons are irrelevant.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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