A 49-year-old man who was serving an 18-year prison term for killing a 17-year-old girl in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May 2014, committed suicide in his cell last week.
According to police and prison authorities, Wataru Akaishi hanged himself by tying his underwear around a bar in his cell and formed a noose, Sankei Shimbun reported. He was found hanging by a guard making the rounds on Aug 18 and died in the Kumamoto prison hospital on Aug 20.
Akaishi was convicted in June 2014 of the murder of missing high school girl Mayuko Arakawa. Police found her body after Akaishi, already under arrest for sexually assaulting an Okinawan woman in Aichi Prefecture, confessed to killing her and dumping her body on the mountain.
Police later discovered that Akaishi had befriended Arakawa on the Internet and made arrangements to meet her. Akaishi rented a car and came to Hitoyoshi in early May and stayed in a business hotel.
Akaishi met Arakawa on May 4 -- the day she disappeared -- and checked out of his hotel the same day.
© Japan Today
30 Comments
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sensei258
Now his sentence matches hers.
TrevorPeace
Finally, he faced the truth.
khulifi
Good News ... I wish all other criminals do the same
Speed
Should've had the death sentence anyway. Good riddance.
WA4TKG
Good.
KnowBetter
Saves the tax payers' footing the bill.
Mirai Hayashi
Hanging via underwear...how appropriate...I hope it was dirty and stained underwear.
SweetPretzels15
And nobody is sad about it.
wontond
They should give a rope to all child killers when they are sent to prison.
Bartholomew Harte
Should have done himself in Before his crimes!-Sayonara!
DaDude
Get the word out to all other killers in prison that their IS a way to shorten their sentence.
CrazyJoe
I don't have a problem with this. Fewer criminals, more empty beds to take the next occupant. If people want to leave on their own, they should have a right to do so.
WilliB
Good news, and good riddance.
1800YOULOSE
I am sure he was miserable in prison.
Now he is no longer miserable.
And people cheer this result? I was not shedding a tear over my tax money being used to keep him miserable.
puregaijin
Good riddance. He took a human life after all. And human life is paramount. Period. @ Khulifi, I sincerely hope by criminals you mean murdurers, not including petty thieves, burglars etc. Same reason: Human life is PARAMOUNT.
clueless
Give all lifers the option to choose their own destiny. Leave a rope in the cell.
I know if I was dumb enough to commit a life sentence crime I wouldn't want to hang around.
...*no pun intended
1800YOULOSE
It might feel good to imagine he is now miserable in hell.
But there is no hell but what we make here on Earth. Less than a year in prison was not nearly hell enough for his crime.
WilliB
1800Youlose:
I think you forget that he was only supposed to be in prison for a number of years. After that, he would have been released to once again roam free in society. You would really prefer that to his permanent remval from society that we got now? I say good riddance, and I appreciate the fact that he is not coming back.
Brian Wheway
I would have loved to be the prison officer or police man that went around to her parents house to give them the bad/good news.
cevin7
He committed a vicious and diabolical crimes in the past, so maybe he deserved death Yet, it made me have mixed feelings when I read comments which celebrate the suicide.
theeastisred
Prisoners should not be allowed the opportunity to evade responsibility and punishment in the way he managed to. Instead of repenting at leisure, he has cheated us by escaping from this life, yes, but also from his punishment. One of the reasons the death penalty is ineffective.
ebisen
I wonder if the honourable posters, posting before me such merry messages, aren't afraid of ghosts... At least, unlike 99% of the killers, he has shown genuine remorse for his actions...
smithinjapan
A total waste, all around. Murders, assaults, suicide... it would have been better had the man never been born -- at least others would not have suffered so much. I really wish criminals would think a little more before committing crimes, and while I don't at all condone suicide, if a person is hell bent on leaving this world please DO NOT take others with you -- either when committing the act or as a means to an end via the police, prison, or what have you.
clueless
None of us had a choice when we were brought into this circle of life.
The very least we should expect is the way we choose to leave it.
This dude chose what he thought was the easy way.
His loss...not ours!!
Thunderbird2
I don't believe in ghosts... good riddance to this piece of filth.
zootmoney
How come he only got 18 years for not only taking the life of a 17-year-old girl but also casting her family into the life-long pain and misery of losing a loved one in such despicable circumstances?
I don't know about this poor girl's parents, but if I were the father, just the thought of this piece of human garbage being free on the streets again might well have tormented me.
1800YOULOSE
I had, but it doesn't matter. He only just started his sentence. If he had done this toward the end of his sentence, I would have no serious complaint. But he got off way too easy. He exited much too much on his own terms. His victim did not have that luxury.
But I will say it and I will say again and again. In my world, he would have gotten a life sentence, no chance of parole or suicide.
wtfjapan
actually Id prefer to see these scum stress in there sells for a good few years and then hang them.
Tahoochi
If they put all murderers in solitary confinement and give'em a rope, we'd hear more news like this.
Patrick Kimura-Macke
Many of these people are mentally ill. Should we execute all ill people?