crime

Man gets suspended prison sentence for keeping deceased mother's body in suitcase

14 Comments

A 49-year-old man who was arrested last November for keeping the body of his deceased mother in a large suitcase in a condo in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and who fraudulently continued to receive her pension after she died, has received a suspended prison sentence of 2 1/2 years by the Yokohama District Court.

The court handed down the sentence against Takashi Okazaki, a construction worker, Fuji TV reported.

Okazaki's 86-year-old mother Eiko died of natural causes last March. He had told police that he didn't have enough money to pay for her funeral and said there was no one he could turn to for advice, so he kept her body in a suitcase in a closet.

The case came to light last Nov 12 when police officers visited the condo as the rent had not been paid, and found the suitcase. As there were fragrances located around the suitcase, police believe that Okazaki was trying to cover up the odor.

Okazaki, who was not home when police visited the apartment, was picked up at a nearby manga cafe on Nov 13.

Okazaki was charged with illegally obtaining his mother’s pension in addition to the charge of abandoning a body. He received about 450,000 yen in pension payments for four months after his mother died.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

14 Comments
Login to comment

He can't be that dumb if he was collecting her pension.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mods- the story needs to be changed. It was a suspended prison sentence.

Moderator: Thanks. It has been corrected.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is freaky. I mean if he could fit his deceased mother in a suitcase, at the very least he could have gone into the mountains and buried her or something if he couldn't afford the funeral. As a "construction worker" it shouldn't have been that difficult for him. to dig a hole and bury her.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Creepy! He is either very intelligent and just playing dumb or he is seriously uneducated. Sadly, I think the latter would be the truth.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It didn't mention how long did Okazaki kept his mother's deceased body.

Not directly, but these two points show the timeline:

Okazaki’s 86-year-old mother Eiko died of natural causes last March.

And

The case came to light last Nov 12 when police officers visited the condo as the rent had not been paid

March - November = 8(ish) months.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

It didn't mention how long did Okazaki kept his mother's deceased body.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The story does mention that.

Yeah, I think the problem is with the translation of 放置 as 'abandonment'. In this case it doesn't mean to take something somewhere and get rid of it, it means to neglect the appropriate care.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Shitai iki includes improper disposal (or not disposing of) a body in the proper way-reporting the death, and arranging for a cremation/burial. It's used in every case of a body stashed in a closet, as well as those hidden under floors, and tossed in fields and bodies of water. It encompasses all improper disposal/keeping of bodies.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Another stupidly misleading title. He didn't get the 2 and 1/2 years for "abandoning" her body, which he obviously didn't do, he got it for pension fraud.

Actually, it appears it was both:

横浜地裁は、28日の判決で「年金を受給し続けようと、死体を放置した」

"In the judgement on the 28th by the Yokohama district court, '[he] continued to receive pension payments, and abandoned [her] body'"

Link: http://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_society/articles/000071318.html

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Another stupidly misleading title. He didn't get the 2 and 1/2 years for "abandoning" her body, which he obviously didn't do, he got it for pension fraud.

I guess the landlord felt that he needed the presence of the police when entering his unit. In other countries the landlord can enter an apartment with 24 hour written notice.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

So the police are allowed to enter your home when you are not there because you missed a rent payment?

No, you have to miss months of payments before the police are called.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Okazaki was charged with illegally obtaining his mother’s pension in addition to the charge of abandoning a body.

How exactly did he abandon the body? It seems to me that the very thing that makes this story so repulsive is that he didn't abandon the body. Popping out to the manga cafe for a few hours hardly amounts to abandonment.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

So the police are allowed to enter your home when you are not there because you missed a rent payment? And that means they can search through your stuff too? Sounds kind of like a police state to me.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites