crime

Man turns himself in for murder of wife one week after they married

40 Comments

A man who reported the death of his wife in Fukuoka has been arrested for her murder, police said Wednesday.

According to police, the 22-year-old man, who has been named as Akira Ishibashi, is accused of strangling his 23-year-old wife, Kasumi, to death at their Fukuoka home on Nov 16. The murder was committed just seven days after the couple handed in their marriage papers on Nov 9, Fuji TV reported.

Ishibashi reported his wife's death on Nov 16 and then turned himself in on Tuesday, police said. Ishibashi had been receiving psychiatric treatment and both he and his wife were on welfare.

During police questioning, Ishibashi was quoted as saying, "We were living on unemployment benefits and life was getting hard. I killed my wife and planned to kill myself, too, but I couldn't go through with it."

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40 Comments
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Spinless man lower than an amoeba !

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Sad, and so young, too.

Terrible to see these shame-related suicides and murders.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

“We were living on unemployment benefits and life was getting hard.

So why get married in that situation? Crappy excuse!!!!

4 ( +7 / -3 )

we would have fewer of these suicides

No suicide here, just a murder.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Alex: I gave you the thumbs down for such a harsh opinion. You don't know their situation so it is really rude to just call them lazy. Maybe they just got laid off of work and were searching for something that would be able to help them support themselves properly. The job market is tough these days, especially if they haven't gone to or completed university. Taking the first low paying very part-time job does not necessairly mean that they would be able to pay the bills but it may just mess up their schedules enough to not be able to properly look for a new job.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Sheesh. What a guy.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Very strange. I'm sure those morning shows will dig deep into this one while everyone on the panel shakes their heads in wonder. Wow, what if their marriage had gone on for several years and they had kids and then did themselves in.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

to young to get married..result=unstabile life,finance n many things

2 ( +4 / -2 )

When he said life was getting hard, did he mean life was getting hard in the last week? If he meant it was getting hard before getting married, why get married in the first place?...as tokyoguy had mentioned above.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@ Elbuda & Ewan: The man was mentally ill. He had been receiving psychiatric treatment. Likely the wife thought getting married was better than being alone and much better than being stale Christmas cake. She was, after all, getting close to the dreaded 25. At 23 her knowledge about mental illness or the danger she might be in likely would have escaped her.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I don't know the details beyond what has been reported here, but I doubt very much that "getting married" means they had a big joyous wedding and invited all their family and friends. And obviously the financial difficulties didn't arise in a week's time. Probably, they were living together unmarried for a while, and decided to put in some paperwork at the local government office--maybe in hopes that the situation would improve (possibly more benefits? shared insurance?). But it didn't fix anything. This could have happened even if they did not officially tie the knot.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If he could not go through with it, he should have tried again, but to kill himself first then her.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Alex, you don't seem to realize that "unemployment" is insurance. You have to have been employed and paying premiums, in order to be eligible. So he must have been working prior to this. And at his age, those Employment Insurance benefits would run for only 90 days. During this time he may well have been applying for every dishwashing job around, but with follow-up visits to for mental health treatment, couldn't even get hired for fast food.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

well that escalated quickly

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He went through with killing his wife, but had the mental capacity to not go and kill himself...Mental Murder if you ask me....and way to young, we all have hope in knowing things can change if we just hang in there....RIP....poor soul's..

1 ( +1 / -0 )

They should've had counseling before they got married.

This IS Japan you know. The country with a stigma against people with any mental illness. It's sad that this happened, preventable? who knows. Here's to hoping he gets the treatment he needs.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

So sad!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I can't stand it.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Nuts! Just plain nuts! Do so many Japanese live in a parallel in which it is OK to kill yourself and your spouse because times are tough? News flash! Times are tough all over the world! Should everybody kill their spouse and themselves?

0 ( +6 / -6 )

@nessie... Sorry to say there's nothing sad about it! It's plain tragic, because this isn't an isolated happening, and age has nothing to do with it. Talk to most Japanese and they would want to let you believe this is where all is for the best because this is best of possible worlds; that's what the education system is about. But the hard realities are of course a different story, and should one consider self with some grain of humility (should I say be educated differently), it would be possible to find a way out, as does Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide. And we would have fewer of these suicides.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

23?? They get married only for one week and this scum kills his wife????? What was this stupid bastard thinking?????? RIP poor woman married to this evil monster

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Sad. What an idiot. Pity she married him. Too many women marry men thinking they can save them from themselves or clean them up or something. And vice versa. It doesn't work that way though. Tragic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's sad how when a man kills a woman he is scum but when a woman kills her child she is victim of society and she just needs help. talk about double standard.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Scumbag! If he can't do himself in let the Govt. complete the task.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

ASAP!!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

He shouldn't have gotten married in the first place. And his disregard for human life has proven itself too much. He should spend the rest of his life in bars because obviously he thinks human life below the struggles of it. "In good times and in bad..." is the vow I took when I got married. I would never dream of killing my wife because a) I love my wife and life in general and b) it's just not right. I met an unemployed, married, homeless couple with a kid once. Yes life was hard. Dang hard. But they loved each other, and were as responsible as could be. The guy eventually worked for a charity for an honest wage and the wife became a tutor in English (she was Venezuelan). Love should pull you through, and it's obvious someone willing to steep to such lows is unable to grasp basic concept as sanctity of life and thus should not be allowed to operate in society.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

sfjp330Nov. 22, 2012 - 05:29AM JST

What a sad place to live.

I hope you are not living in Japan?

Would have been better if he had of finished his plan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Alex: you don't get it. Not everyone goes to college or university in Japan. Some people enter the workforce at the age of 18 (or even younger) and they can in fact lose their job and collect unemployment when that happens. Perhaps they worked in a factory together that was recently shut down due to the economy. Or worked seperately and faced the same fate. Either way, if they didn't have something to fall back on, it could be a very harsh reality check for them. At my husbands job, a 21 year old has been working there for 4 years and if he lost his job, he would be feeling rather desperate.

I don't think it was just that they were both unemployed that led to this horrendous act. The story mentions that he was recieving psychiactric help. If he was mentally unstable (a disability and therefore on unemployment benifits) then that could definately be the deeper reason for the murder. I am not trying to excuse his actions for murder, but I really think you should rethink your views on young unemployed people.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well, he killed one person and is getting psychiatric treatment which means he will be out of prison/hospital in 10 years at 32 years old ready to remarry.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A very sad story., Some of the comments here are sad to read too. Lets try to have compassion and sympathy instead of blaming. I hope he gets some help, he is going to have a tough path ahead once he really realizes what he did, if he can realize it. I hope she is at peace. I feel for their families too.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Taj you may not realize but I have been thru the system and did the claim, simply because I feel that is cash I payed in thru tax mental health is not at all requirement for any job in japan There is absolutely no problem finding job in japan that will pay more than unemployment unless you have been making millions previously. ( you get about 70% of salary in benefit pay )

Absolutely no problem! Speaking japanese , mental health or anything else is not a barrier. Either you want to work or you dont! As simple as that!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Sakurala, I have seen enough young unemployed people ( being not really old myself ) and my view is currently the new crop of young people are generally speaking much lazier and pickier, thinking they can fallback on parents of off themselves easy and thats the problem.

Go thru any employment paper and there are gazillions of low paying jobs ( low but well enough to survive ) Unless you are really some sort of strange animal,it is impossible to not find a job

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

22 and 23 , unemployment benefits ? Were they disabled ? How are you unable to find a job at that age is beyond me.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

who minusd me, seriously if you at that age and not working ,you are just a lazy worthless person and a burden to a society. There is abundance of low pay jobs around, if you are at a point where at 22 you need to claim unemployment to survive,then any job should be the best job. It really education and parenting fault the grows up muppets like that.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

sfjp330, what does it have to do with jp government at all... if you manage to get married at that age you are definitely not mentally disabled, why should anyone feed you for free go and work in conveni or any 800Y job, 12h a day 7 days a week and you have enough cash to live.

Honestly, while I feel sorry for the wife, the guy should be executed ASAP, society should not be paying for those people.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

They both were poor and they needed help. They should've had counseling before they got married. They needed counseling to get over the daily crap of life in Japan and like always, J-goverment has not improve the situation of reducing the problems of mental illness and suicides in Japan. 14th year in a row, over 30K suicides and many aquaintance murders. J-goverment should get a first place trophy for negligence of their own people. What a sad place to live.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

In Japan You can always find a job

Not one that will feed, clothe and shelter you. Especially in the present economic climate, and even more especially if you have a mental illness.

Let's face it, if someone is so unstable that they're going to kill their wife after one week, it's going to show in some way and they're hardly likely to be top of any personnel manager's wish list.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Sakurala - what are you talking about, 22 and 23 , laid of what job ? It aint a harsh opinion, claming unemployment at that age with no kids or no disabilities should be illegal.

If you are in that difficult position that killing yourself seems to be the only option out, I dont believe a normal person will not accept any job offer. and if they are that picky or lazy - they should not be part of society.

I understand someone who actually held proper big job for few years and got laid off, might feel they got no options but not at those ages.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

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