Police in Osaka have arrested a 36-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of killing his 65-year-old father by pushing him off a bridge into a river early Monday morning.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 1:05 a.m. on Mikunibashi bridge which spans the Kanzaki River in Yodogawa Ward.
Police said Shota Tamai has admitted to pushing his father Shigehiro off the bridge and quoted him as saying, “I was sick and tired of being unable to work after becoming ill and began considering killing myself and my father,” Kyodo News reported.
Tamai’s father was visually impaired, police said.
A witness saw Shigehiro sitting on a bridge railing. Tamai, who was standing behind his father, reportedly shoved him off the bridge and then drove away in a rental car which was parked nearby.
Police and rescue personnel searched the river and found Shigehiro’s body at 3:20 a.m., some 20 meters downstream from the bridge. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and was barefoot. He had no ID on him.
Tamai told police he jumped into the river at another spot but swam back to safety. He went back home where he lives with his parents and two siblings and told his mother what he had done. His mother called police.
Police said Tamai told them he laced his father’s dinner with sleeping pills on Sunday night and then took him to the bridge after he fell asleep.
© Japan Today
24 Comments
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Sven Asai
what a cold hearted killer beast. maybe instead of arrest he should given some additional attempts in the rivers.
garypen
Is he talking about his own inability to work? WTH does that have to do with his father???
obladi
He was somehow able to premeditatedly murder his vision-impaired father, but lacked the will to kill himself.
I really think he got things backwards.
Speed
I know exacly where that bridge is. Jesus, this is heartbreaking how he treated his blind father.
Eastmann
"hero" powerful enough to kill own old father but not brave enough to kill himself?
commanteer
This is one of the coldest murders I have seen in a while. Murder in the heat of anger is one thing. But this guy planned it out and even chose one of the most heartless ways to kill his father. And, of course, these types always seem to lose their courage when it comes to the suicide part of murder-suicide.
Mark
PURE EVIL.
1738Kwaaa!!
smithinjapan
Coward. Start with yourself, please. Or better yet, since all is said and done, in prison, tell the other inmates there what you had wished to ultimately accomplish. Perhaps they will oblige you and help... slowly.
Never a day goes by here without this kind of sick family stuff.
starpunk
Projectionism, he's taking his inner frustrations on somebody who was not at fault. A sad, pathetic and cowardly act.
Paul
Advice, do not judge!
Marc Lowe
He still lives with his parents at his and their advanced ages. No wonder. It explains a lot. Tensions build up over time. Remember, in some cultures euthanizing the elderly was the norm and an honorable death for the elderly. His father did not suffer, but he will.
pudus
"he laced his father’s dinner with sleeping pills on Sunday night and then took him to the bridge"
"standing behind his father, reportedly shoved him off the bridge and then drove away in a rental car."
Btang
Wow! Hamura City is next to Fussa, where I work on the base.
Hamura City *in the newsssssssssssss!Legrande
Definitely a despicable act, but needs an appraisal of what situation drove him to such an extreme.
If you say he would do so even if in better financial straits I would say trying living on the poverty line for a while and see what thoughts come into your head.
Stephen Chin
If he planned murder-suicide why did he not jump into the river holding his father?
Three goals
Why did he want to kill his father? His father had nothing to do with his problems. What a horrible person!
kurisupisu
It seems that there is a distinct lack of empathy that allows some Japanese to do these kinds of actions
garypen
The thoughts that would pop into most people's heads, people who aren't sociopaths or psychopaths, would be to rob a store or bank, or perhaps burglarize a home, or contemplate suicide (just suicide, not murder-suicide), or maybe just end up an alcoholic or drug addict.
Normal people under financial hardship do not consider murdering their parents or random strangers, as is also popular here among people who claim to be "frustrated" or "stressed" about work or money.
sir_bentley28
AllI said was to man up and take responsibilities for what you did which was push someone over a bridge to their death then ran away from the scene!