crime

Man questioned after wife's body found in car trunk in Chiba

20 Comments

The body of a woman was discovered in the trunk of a car early Tuesday morning, and police are currently questioning the woman's husband, who admits to killing her.

Police said they received a call from the husband just after midnight saying he killed his wife. They arrived at a parking lot in Chiba City to find 67-year-old Hiro Shikura in the trunk of a car with blood streaming from a head wound.

She was taken to hospital but was declared dead just after 1 a.m. Police are currently questioning Shikura's 70-year-old husband and plan to arrest him on suspicion of murder later today.

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20 Comments
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So the police are questioning the husband who already admits of killing the wife and yet police are planning to arrest him later today!!!???...that really woke me up!

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Ok. "suspicion of murder..." It's either murder or attempted murder; in this case, murder. She is dead.

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bacster bud, welcome to japan and their legendary keystone kops.

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It's not a "Keystone Kop" thing. It's a "Legal Procedural" thing.

It has to be classified as "Suspicion of Murder" until the medical examiner can confirm it was indeed murder. That takes time. Obviously.

Also, just because someone admits to a crime doesn't necessarily make it so. In order to convict in Japan, the prosecution must be able to prove the guilt of the suspect regardless of a confession. This requires an examination of the crime scene and a collection of evidence. Again, obviously.

I'd think people would be happy the police weren't just saying, "Ahhh... We have a confession. Case closed. Time for lunch." Amnesty International goes on and on about how Japan convicts far too much based on confessions alone. Yet here we have posters already griping.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I suppose.

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the police are questioning the husband who already admits of killing the wife and yet police are planning to arrest him later today!!!???

They have the guy in custody, he's not going anywhere. The arrest is a formality that involves a lot of paperwork, crossing t's and dotting i's (in a manner o'speaking, since the papers are all in kanji of course). Maybe in some countries the arrest officially occurs the moment the copper lays his hand on you; in Japan, you gotta get the paperwork right. 'They haven't arrested him yet' doesn't mean they're not doing their job. Quite the contrary.

Ok. "suspicion of murder..." It's either murder or attempted murder

What they'll find him guilty of is murder or attempted murder. What they'll arrest him on is suspicion of one of those two. Some quaint notion about innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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The sequence of events may appear illogical, but I agree with LFRAgain- it's a "legal procedural thing"...

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Also, just because someone admits to a crime doesn't necessarily make it so. In order to convict in Japan, the prosecution must be able to prove the guilt of the suspect regardless of a confession. This requires an examination of the crime scene and a collection of evidence. Again, obviously.

This is true anywhere but to arrest someone you need only probable cause. Japan's criminal procedures are in fact mind-boggling if the police still cannot arrest a suspect notwithstanding his confession, directions on how to find the victim's body, and actually finding the body in a trunk.

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More to the point; there is little or not understanding of a coroner's role in determining suspicious causes of death. Or even what a coroner is ... The Keystones "direct" the examining doctor (not a forensic pathologist by any means) to write down the cause of death as they see it. Baloney. this is just unbelievable in this day and age ...

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Open and shut case - newsworthy!?

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LFRAgain, it's one thing to try and convict someone as opposed to arresting them. The police have the victim and the guy confessed to doing it which is ample evidence to arrest someone on suspicion of committing the crime.

I'm surprised they didn't use the old "abandonment of a body" crap.

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@ nutsagain: You're kidding me. This country's justice system needs a serious overhaul if that's what's happening.

On the other hand, poor old lady. At least it looks like justice will be served, to a degree.

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SebastianFlyte: Yes. An open and shut case.

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I read this as: The husband has obviously been taken in as a "person of interest". He has admitted to it, but all the facts probably aren't marrying up... Which is often the case with these weird murder cases. The police are still questioning, but they are leaning more towards he is the killer, and is confirming the final points before officially arresting him... What's not to get? pretty logical to me.

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To: in fact mind-boggling if the police still cannot arrest a suspect notwithstanding his confession...

has something new occurred since the brief time i have been away? eh? no noo... it was ALWAYS the 'confession' that was the KEY to police breaking a case. So much has been written here and elsewhere regarding police tactics to 'force' confessions after hours of 'investigational' holding of a 'suspect.' Fact, was seemingly too much work. But the outcome was that WE J-police have 98 percent conviction rate! Lookie us! -- that is, based on breaking down a person to the point of 'confession.'

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70 -year old man kills his 67-year old wife...?! Quite interested to hear his motive.

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His motive? To quote a (now famous) recording where a drunk elderly man shot his wife in the gut then called 911 to report it, "She ENTICED me! (to do it)" a.k.a. You're only going to take so much nagging before you snap.

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Still don't understand why they didn't arrest him on the spot...sounds pretty keystone to me...

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police are currently questioning the man

The man is in police custody. Why the need to "arrest him" formally if he's being cooperative? I think there are very little information in this article, and so much speculation in the stuff that is "lost in translation". "Detained for questioning" is different to "arresting" is it not? "Arresting" only really happens under statutory warrant is acquired. This much is the same as western system. I think you guys need to learn the system a bit more. Even in western society, "arresting a suspect" only happens under severe circumstancial evidence. The suspect is more often "taken in for questioning", and "arrest" will happen if they are not cooperative for reasons such as "obstructing the course of justice" and other excuses the cops come up with.

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mDaligloZm -- WE J-police?? Are you a police officer?? 98% of conviction rate, in my book, isn't something we/you should be proud of. I'm really not proud of Japanese police.

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