A 54-year-old man was fatally stabbed and his 43-year-old girlfriend seriously wounded after they were apparently attacked by her 36-year-old former boyfriend outside their residence in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, on Tuesday night.
The suspect died in a fire 30 minutes later at his own apartment about 10 kilometers away in Yokkaichi City, Fuji TV reported.
Police said they received a call at around 10:30 p.m. from a resident in Kuwana reporting that screams could be heard in the neighborhood. When police arrived, they found Nobuyuki Ito, a company employee, collapsed on the road. Police said Ito had multiple knife wounds to his head. A short distance away, they found his girlfriend, bleeding from stab wounds to her back and chest.
Both victims were taken to hospital where Ito died about an hour later. His girlfriend remained in a serious condition on Wednesday. However, she was able to tell police that her former boyfriend had attacked them.
At around 11 p.m. Tuesday, a fire was reported at the apartment of the suspect. Police said a charred body, believed to be the suspect, was found in the ruins of the apartment after the blaze was extinguished.
Police said that since last November, Ito and his girlfriend had consulted them about the man stalking her on five occasions. On Jan 14, the couple filed a complaint against him and he was issued a restraining order.
Ito and the suspect were former work colleagues, police said.
Editor: Story has been updated to show that the couple consulted police on five occasions about being stalked.
© Japan Today
53 Comments
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Speed
This sounds like a scene from a horror movie.
Garthgoyle
Arrested for how long? A week, a month, a year? After he had been released he could have gone after them and done the exact same thing.
It's sad what happened but the only way to prevent something like this from happening, is being able to see into the future.
Coulda been
Another case of restraining orders meaning nothing to the determined.
Chico3
@KetoCoffee - You're saying that the government should/needs to step in and take action. That might (a bit "might") be true to an extent. However, a few things happen.
People like this are no longer behaving as mature adults should and the government acts as "Mommy and Daddy" to settle the argument.
The more you ask the government to step in, the more you give government to control your life. As a result, we get more defenseless as this action continues.
We will more and more let the government continue to tax us more for these services, because we're asking more of them.
We are no longer mature adults in ourselves, along with being role models for our future generations to come.
Do you really think the government really cares about its citizens? Doubt it.Garthgoyle
You mean like being able to tell what's gonna happen in the future, and pre-arrest those who would have committed a crime in the future? There's a really good sci-fi movie like that with Tom Cruise. The Minority Report.
WilliB
KetoCoffee
...you mean in the news headlines. In a country with a population of 125 million. Do you expect the news to report about the daily lives of millions of people who had an uneventful day? Get some perspective.
snowymountainhell
Respectfully disagreed with the part “There will be no court case or inquiry because the suspect is dead”. - There can still be some degree of ‘closure’ for surviving victim, the deceased’s family and ‘justice’ served (of course, to a lesser extent that what was direly requested previously by the descendant), IF and when the case is still reviewed by prosecutors.
In Japan, there is precedent of such murder-suicide cases still having continued prosecutorial inquiry and a formal judicial review even after the suspect expired. Most recently, these two of relevance:
Mar 3, 2021: - https://japantoday.com/category/crime/papers-on-man-who-killed-himself-after-beating-brother-in-law-to-death-sent-to-prosecutors
Oct 3, 2019: - https://japantoday.com/category/crime/papers-on-dead-man-in-murder-suicide-case-sent-to-prosecutors -
shogun36
He should’ve just went straight to jumping into the fire.
Fuzzy
@KetoCoffee
Either that part of the article wasn't included when I read it this morning (JT have a habit of updating articles later), or I just somehow missed that part of the article. Now I agree, more should have been done to prevent this sicko.
WilliB
KetoCoffee
Step in and do what, exactly? Alas, there will always be crazy people. But do you want to live in a society where police can arrest you pre-crime, on the suspicion that you might do something? "Minority report" style? Think about that.
snowymountainhell
A “*Crime of passion” *@602miko 8:04am usually refers to a crime enacted during the heat & fervor of an argument or provocation. From the limited details provided, appears all the actions of the perpetrator were over time and premeditated.
WilliB
RiskyMosaic
It would be pre-crime. The police gave him warnings about the stalking, which is all they can do. There is this thing called "laws", you know.
Now detaining him on the suspicion that he would commit murder, which you seem to be asking for, that would be right out of "minority report".
snowymountainhell
“*There will be no court case or inquiry because the suspect is dead*.” - What ?? - Certainly the judiciary in Japan has a responsibility to the deceased and the survivor to look into ALL of the police findings & evidence and come to a sufficient conclusion of exactly ‘who did what to whom’. Certainly the Japanese public will not sit idly by and left the final conclusions of this case be drawn by solely by news reports and social media.
snowymountainhell
“Thank you” @P.Smith 10:24pm for clarifying which issue. It was just about the police/prosecutorial ‘inquiry’ in these Mie Pref cases continuing toward a more definitive conclusion about the circumstances of both deaths, even without the suspect’s account/confession of events. Of course, no court trial was anticipated. (Cases tried in absentia of a defendant are usually not for capital crimes.)
May be a browser issue. Just select the entire link or use the keywords in JT’s ‘search’ box above. Here are brief synopses from the 1st para of both prior articles cited:
Mickelicious
Jilted lover exacts revenge. Hardly original or unique to Japan.
Move along, nothing new to see. Condolences, etc.
WA4TKG
I love you, therefore, I must kill you.
snowymountainhell
Part of the confusion from the earliest posts in this thread was the omission and later addition of the five previous incidents of stalking and/or filed complaints regarding the suspect. As many point out here daily, revisions to articles should perhaps be timestamped and/or noted at a time (as some moderators do) within the thread:
snowymountainhell
Wasn’t questioning your late morning posts @RiskyMosaic 6:28pm and understand @Keto’s frustration. As *@Fuzzy 5:27am*** and my @6:19pm posts point out, prior to @9:55am, **the early-on readers didn’t have ALL the information of of the previous incidents of stalking. If that thread looks fragmented, there were the usual here that try to derail it or divert attention for Japan’s victims of stalking & domestic violence by bringing up issues, weapons laws and politics from abroad - Always a disservice to the attention needed for these victims here in Japan.
snowymountainhell
Fine then @zichi 11:24am & 7:38pm do I have ‘Your respected word’ here, you’ll acknowledge it as valid and stop trying to discredit or cast doubt on posts, especially those supported by specific links ?
“Difficult to know without a link to the surveys.”
snowymountainhell
Here is the specific link regarding ‘Knife Attacks in Japan’ @zichi 11:24am & 7:38pm to support my posts earlier today and on other related threads recently. (This is a ‘free’ link, not requiring subscriptions, etc.)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/955209/japan-perceived-actual-leading-causes-of-violent-death/
Perceived and actual main causes of violent death in Japan 2018 (Published by Statista Research Department, Oct 19, 2021)
“This statistic presents the results of a survey on perceived leading causes of death through interpersonal violence in Japan as of 2018. According to data published by Ipsos, Japanese respondents overestimated the number of violent deaths caused by knives. Around 41 percent of respondents thought that most people killed through interpersonal violence died from knife attacks, when the actual share of stabbing victims was around 23 percent of all violent deaths in Japan.”There are other recent abstracts theorizing possible reasons for the disparity between public perception and the statistics provided by Japanese government agencies. Hopefully, JT will have another upcoming forum where those findings will be relevant for discussion.
602miko
Crime of passion
NOMINATION
I know shoulda woulda coulda but a restraining order is just a piece of paper and doesn't mean an officer is doing a stakeout in front of your home. After the 2nd time, they should have thought about moving elsewhere. I don't know the process here of having your identity and whereabouts protected.
Fuzzy
Arrested for what? There is nothing in this article to suggest the guy had done anything of concern before the attack. This isn't Minority Report.
Tom Doley
Another innocent life lost due to a person with anger management issues. The government ought to do something about it. Too many people here have vent up anger and explode unnaturally when things don't go slightly their way.
snowymountainhell
While the police probably failed the adequately investigate the 5 prior complaints of stalking and ultimately failed with the decedent’s & injured’s request for restraint, not sure what exactly @KetoCoffee 7:12am wants the national government to do ?
snowymountainhell
Wasn’t arguing against your points @KetoCoffee 11:10am. If you look at my comments history, you’ll see I’m posting here daily as an advocate for victims first and routinely calling the J government (not Japan’s people) to task for dragging their feet and only promising to implement reactionary measures once a tragedy has occurred.
snowymountainhell
Was the murder victim her ‘knight in shining armour’ and helped her move on from a formerly abusive relationship with the suspect or,
was the suspect upset his former coworker, the deceased, ‘made off with his girl’ ?
snowymountainhell
From the latest surveys, “Japanese public perception of ‘interpersonal crimes between citizens’ ranks ‘knife crimes’ at about 41%.”
snowymountainhell
Agreed. Seems personal stress is at all time high worldwide @zichi 11:03am but probably best to keep this thread on Japan. There are links above in the “Health” tab(next to the red”CoVid-19” for those having such stress here, in Japan.