Police in Tokyo said Thursday that a 54-year-old man who injured a girl with an ice pick while on a train told them he did it as a kind of rehearsal to see if he had what it takes to actually kill someone.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 7 a.m. on April 23 on a train on the Keio line between Kitazawa and Hachimanyama stations, Fuji TV reported. The 17-year-old girl told police she was dozing when she felt a pain in her right thigh. She looked up and saw a man with an ice pick run away and exit the train at Hachimanyama station.
The girl suffered a gash that took a week to heal, police said.
The suspect, an unemployed man from Meguro Ward, turned up at a hospital in Setagaya Ward about an hour after the attack, carrying the ice pick and two knives. Police said he has a history of psychiatric trouble, police said. He was quoted as saying that he wanted to kill someone but before he could do so, he wanted to see if he really had the guts to do it.
© Japan Today
37 Comments
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Alan
He got out at the right stop. The big Matsuzawa mental hospital is located right next to Hachimanyama Station. I suspect he might be spending a bit of time there.
LFRAgain
gogogo,
And your suggestion that being subjected to gang rape in prison is more civilized than this man's actions just how precisely? Really curious to hear the reasoning behind that one.
NathalieB
This guy was clearly mindful enough to be able to select a weak target. If he had picked someone the same size as him I would at least have given him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe he was crazy, but no, he was still enough in control of is faculties to select a sleeping 17 year old girl.
Thunderbird2
badman, there's a difference between someone with mental health issues and someone who is stupid... in this case just plain nasty and stupid.
Wc626
Ahahaha- good Friday night humor there-
badman
What he did was clearly terrible. He hould be locked up for treatment.
I hope all of you suggesting the death penalty never have a love one with severe mental problems. Your anger and hatred do not help in any way.
Saiaku
history of psychiatric trouble? Just put him to eternal sleep. No use for him on this earth. He's a human waste
gogogo
Second test, does he have enough guts to drop the soap in jail for the next 20 years?
nath
Stabbing a sleeping 17 year old girl in the thigh proves you don't belong in society with the rest of us, not that you have guts.
Pat Telzrow
Does the Japanese judicial system have the "guts" to put this nut case away for a long time? I hope so.
Monozuki
Stabbed in her right thigh with an ice pick? Um, it must have been a painful shock. Why did he do that? This loony is really pain in the ass.
Hope the girl will get well soon.
Dennis Bauer
And it is summer, the nut-jobs are getting out of hibernation
movieguy
Why couldn't psychos like this wonder if they had the guts to jump off a building?
Thunderbird2
Jeezus! What is wrong with these nutters? "I wanted to see what it was like to kill someone"? Just slot the b@st@rd.
nath
Ice Picks do not gash. They pierce as in like ear rings. I hope she got a tetanus booster shot. Scary out there sometimes people, but really safe here too.
The_True
OH MY GOD!!!
Yokota
The suspect, [with a maladjustment hit record]; unemployed from Meguro Ward, turned up at a hospital in Setagaya Ward about an hour after the attack, carrying the ice pick and two knives.
Looks like a candidate for the RFID chip implant
Yardley
It's a very good thing he turned himself in. The chances of catching him otherwise would have been small, I think.
SuperFamiLover
low life coward...
Aussieboy
These days I don't feel safe closing my eyes on the train for this exact reason. Soon we will see the excuse that someone wanted to know what its like to kill a gaijin.
jonobugs
I'm afraid that you and I have different definitions of "bravery". If anything this was an act of cowardice. A solitary girl sleeping on the train does not seem like a difficult or dangerous target that would jump up and attack him.
LFRAgain
Honestly, there's something good to be said for this guy turning himself in. If it turns out he does indeed have psychiatric issues, then words like, "trash" and "coward" aren't really applicable, much less helpful.
I understand the impetus to use pejoratives like, "nut," "loon," and "psychopath." I admit I've done it myself out of knee-jerk shock at something unfathomable like this But it's kind of sad that someone who clearly needs help, and has gone to seek help, can't garner much more here than dismissive indifference at the least, and calls for summary execution at the worst. It's little wonder that Japan has such a hard time getting past its almost medieval mindset towards mental healthcare and how society treats those who need it. Even Westerners still struggle with the idea that people with mental health issues need help, and not condemnation.
100 CPM
"She looked up and saw a man with an ice pick run away" "The suspect, an unemployed man from Meguro Ward" as if being employed would keep him from nutting up
lice said he has a history of psychiatric trouble....ok.... are there Japanese citizenry or abecare affordable health-care insurance programs that could provide the dire needed in-care treatment facilities available for him? Such that public violence or public fatalities can be reduced, over the ensuing onslaught of increased civil disobedience, in order to not cause the obstruction of the much needed business and the Japanese safety of life in today's Japanese society, in the face of implementing groundwork for constitutional revisions, and global window dressing
sf2k
You can't fix crazy.
DaDude
"Coward" and "guts" don't go hand-in-hand.
Disillusioned
Yeah, what a nutcase! He had the guts to stab a 17 year old girl in the leg while she was sleeping? Let's hope this loon gets a big red stamp on his prison passport - NEVER TO BE RELEASED!
wildwest
Interesting hypothesis.
Simona Stanzani
holy cow that's my hospital!!! (O_O)
noypikantoku
why not stab the chimpiras around kabuki-cho instead ??? always picking the weak and innocent,
papigiulio
You know, when someone says something like that, its just better to not waste any time and just get rid of him with any means necessary.
KM361
Japanese people are respected for their hard work, sincerity, honesty. But it comes to this part, it is very devastating.
Ali Khan
do you know the meaning of life?
Frederic Bastiat
With the number of nutjobs out and about, a little situational awareness goes a long way. Don't sleep on the trains. Be a hard target. Nutjobs like this go for easy victims.
Kabukilover
This is relevant to our discussion on bravery with relation to the Kamikaze. This is guy was obviously out of his mind but yes, it took a degree of "bravery" to stab a poor innocent girl with an ice pick. This underscores that bravery is not an automatic virtue. Oftentimes it is stupidity or madness. In this case it was both.
Where did this psycho get the idea of having "guts" to hurt someone? Peer pressure? Movies?
With the amount of psychopaths running around in Japan I am glad this country has strict gun control laws.
I hope for the girl's speedy recovery. I hope this psycho is put into a padded cell for the rest of his life.
DenTok2009
"...history of psychiatric trouble..." Does that mean his psychiatrist told the police about him or that the man has a police record for troubling behavior?
stormcrow
Guts!? No! Nuts!
gaijinfo
Luckily not!