crime

Suspect detained over stabbings at Ibaraki farmhouse

20 Comments

Police in Yachiyo, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 21-year-old Vietnamese man on suspicion of attempting to kill a 73-year-old woman at her farmhouse last month.

Police said at a news conference on Monday night that they expect to also charge the man, Nguyen Dinh Hai, with the murder of the woman’s 76-year-old husband. Nyugen, who came to Japan as an agricultural technical trainee, lives about 1.5 kilometers from the farmhouse. Police have not said whether he has admitted to the charge. He was sent to prosecutors on Tuesday morning.

According to investigators, Isao Osato and his wife Yuko were attacked sometime before 3 a.m. on Aug 24. The couple’s 42-year-old son who lives in another residence near the farmhouse, called 119 at around 3:15 a.m. He said he heard the dog barking and went to check on his parents. He found them both collapsed, bleeding from knife wounds.

Police said Isao had more than 10 knife wounds to his chest and stomach and was declared dead at the scene. His wife Yuko was stabbed in the stomach and found in the corridor outside her bedroom. She told police that a man wearing a black ski mask stabbed her. She remains in hospital but her wound is not life-threatening, police said.

Investigators believe the killer probably entered the farmhouse through an unlocked door.

Police said street surveillance camera footage which was taken about 100 meters from the victims' residence showed a man wearing a hood walking along the road leading to the Osatos' home at around 1:35 a.m. He is next seen running away from the home at around 2:50 a.m. Police said Nyugen matched the description of that man.

Police said Nyugen was seen on surveillance camera footage at a home center purchasing a knife there on the night of Aug 23. It was the same type of blood-stained knife police found at the crime scene.

© Japan Today

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20 Comments
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Wow! The evidence seems very circumstantial for him to have his name a nationality blasted all over the media.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Wow! The evidence seems very circumstantial for him to have his name a nationality blasted all over the media.

If the police arrested this man on suspicion of this extremely cowardice attack on an elderly couple you can be sure they have well-founded reasons to do so and I am also sure the media checked their sources.

Police said Isao had more than 10 knife wounds to his chest and stomach and was declared dead at the scene. His wife Yuko was stabbed in the stomach and found in the corridor outside her bedroom

Reading this gives chills to my spine, how can you to this to a defenceless elderly couple ?

Investigators believe the killer probably entered the farmhouse through an unlocked door.

The Japanese government really has to begin a campaign to instruct people to lock their doors or these kind of crimes will happen more frequently in the future.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

These kinds of crimes were not really happening before to make it a necessity, locking the doors. But as everyone can see, the situation is changing. There is going to be a national backlash towards accepting trainees from these countries.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

These kinds of crimes were not really happening before to make it a necessity, locking the doors. But as everyone can see, the situation is changing

Yes indeed and besides it just common sense to lock your doors don't see any good reason why you wouldn't do that.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

He said he heard the dog barking and went to check on his parents. He found them both collapsed, bleeding from knife wounds.

Lucky their son heard the loyal dog. What a terrible sight to encounter.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It used to be that rural areas in Japan were so safe and peaceful that people wouldn’t bother to lock their doors. Those days are gone. As the government brings in unskilled foreign workers to fill the labor shortage, these kinds of brutal crimes will be everyday occurrences. A negative aspect of cultural diversity.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It used to be that rural areas in Japan were so safe and peaceful that people wouldn’t bother to lock their doors. Those days are gone. 

No they aren’t. Japan is still safe in ritual areas and people do still leave their doors unlocked.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As Do the Hustle suggested, the facts presented in the article do very little to incriminate the guy they've arrested. His major "mistake" seems to have been that he bought a knife. He's working in agriculture, is he not? Surely a knife could be useful for purposes other than randomly slaying some old man. If he murdered him, what was his motive? As posters gleefully point out on this site on a regular basis, family killings in Japan are, shall we say, not unheard of these days. We can only imagine what happened, but you see what I mean. Have the cops checked for any history of disputes between the father and son, or have they just thought that it was easier to pin it on a foreigner?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

One would hope that they have more than proximity and having purchased a knife - oh, and him being a foreigner.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The posters here who dare to suggest that the Japanese police have solely arrested this man on the basis of being a foreigner combined with some flimsy circumstantial evidence are  just displaying idiocy at the highest level.

No they aren’t. Japan is still safe in ritual areas and people do still leave their doors unlocked.

Agreed but people should start looking their doors and invest in security measures because people with criminal intent, whether they are Japanese or foreign, know these abandoned rural communities inhabited by elderly people are a burglar's wet dream.

I hope the Japanese government does not forget about these people and continues to protect them.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

There's got to be some motive- did they know each other through the training program? Acquaintances? Some other previous incident? I highly doubt that this was just a random stabbing attack.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

A. People should lock their doors, regardless of where they live. It takes almost zero effort and time to do. Why are people defending the practice of not locking them?

I've never understood how people almost wear the fact they don't unlock their doors as a badge of honor. It seems lazy and unwise to me. (FYI - Not victim-blaming. What happened to them was horrible, and the perpetrator deserves the harshest punishment.)

B. JP police have been known to make arrests with little evidence, and coercing confessions from the accused. So, it's not unreasonable for commenters to point out the circumstantial nature of the evidence provided in the article.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Correction in the 2nd paragraph: ...don't lock their doors.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A. People should lock their doors, regardless of where they live.

Why?

It takes almost zero effort and time to do.

Not locking your doors takes less effort and time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A man wearing a hood in cctv footage "matched" the suspect's description? Hmmm. That sounds iffy.

The guy apparently insists he's innocent. His friends and bosses here and people in his hometown say they cant believe he could do anything like this. No motive mentioned. The son who lived on another property was alerted to a predawn murder by.... a barking dog. I dunno. Arent such murders in Japan nearly always done by family members and not strangers?

"If the police arrested this man... you can be sure they have well-founded reasons to do so"

The first person the police arrested in AUM's nerve gas attack in 1994 was a local guy -- on the grounds he had agricultural chemicals in his shed. He was 100% innocent.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Mister X, your English is very good. Congratulations. You must have spent a long time abroad. However, you seem to be naive about your country's police force. Haven't you heard anything about forced confessions in Japan? I recommend you check the link below. Read about Keiko Aoki's story, listen to her speak in the video, and tell me some more about the integrity of the Japanese police.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/10/japan-forced-confessions-wrong-convictions-161010084400226.html

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Strangerland

" People should lock their doors, regardless of where they live."

Why?

Because someone might sneak in and stab them to death.

"It takes almost zero effort and time to do."

Not locking your doors takes less effort and time.

Recuperating from being stabbed takes much more effort and time.

Although, recuperating from being dead doesn't take much effort, it does take forever.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The guy apparently insists he's innocent. His friends and bosses here and people in his hometown say they cant believe he could do anything like this. No motive mentioned. The son who lived on another property was alerted to a predawn murder by.... a barking dog. I dunno. Arent such murders in Japan nearly always done by family members and not strangers?

Yup. Plus, the wife said the man was wearing a ski mask. It could have been anyone, including the son.

If I was the lead detective on the case, I would have checked the son's residence and person for any signs of evidence.

Not saying that I think it was definitely him. But, he should certainly be a person of interest to any detective worth their salt.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Because someone might sneak in and stab them to death.

The likelihood of someone sneaking into your home and stabbing you to death is extremely remote. Of the 130 million people in the country, pretty much 130 million of them will go to the grave without anyone ever breaking into their house and stabbing them to death.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The first person the police arrested in AUM's nerve gas attack in 1994 was a local guy -- on the grounds he had agricultural chemicals in his shed. He was 100% innocent.

Sometimes the police get it wrong, it happens in every country around the world and forensics luckily have come a very long way since 1994.

 Haven't you heard anything about forced confessions in Japan?

I am not going to hold the entire Japanese police force accountable for a few wrongful actions in the past by a few rotten apples.

The likelihood of someone sneaking into your home and stabbing you to death is extremely remote.

Without crime statistics we can't know for sure but these type of crimes where a burglar enters an unlocked house often paired with violence are definitely being reported more frequently by the media in recent years whether it taking place in big cities such as Tokyo or in the countryside.

The depopulation of the countryside leaves an elderly population behind and these people are more vulnirable to people with criminal intent.

While Japan is still one of the safest countries in the world it is a sign of the times and people will have to learn to lock their doors and take additional safety measures it's just common sense this day and age.

For example we had the elderly person whose expensive bonzais were stolen a while ago and while he never felt the need to lock his garden before after this event for the first time in his life he had to invest in a security system.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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