ID :
31428
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:48
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/31428
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Killer searched for more victims in attacks on ex-vice ministers` homes
TOKYO, Nov. 20 Kyodo - The perpetrator who broke into the homes of two former vice health and welfare ministers in Tokyo and the city of Saitama earlier this week, killing one of the vice ministers and his wife, and wounding the wife of the other, apparently searched the houses for other occupants, police sources said Thursday.
The revelation emerged after a number of traces of blood and bloody footprints
were found inside the homes of Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, in Saitama's Minami Ward
and Kenji Yoshihara, 76, in Tokyo's Nakano Ward.
The assailant might have intended to kill all of the former ministers' family
members in the attacks, the sources said.
The footprints in the homes appear to have been made by athletic shoes, but the
patterns were not identical. It is possible that the attacks were carried out
by the same person but that the assailant changed shoes before committing the
second crime, they said.
Yamaguchi and his wife Michiko, 61, were found stabbed to death Tuesday morning
at their home in Saitama. The couple are believed to have been killed Monday.
In the evening of the same day, a man disguised as a home-delivery man visited
Yoshihara's Tokyo home and stabbed his wife Yasuko, 72, who suffered serious
wounds. Yoshihara was not at home at the time.
Yasuko told the police Thursday that the man appeared to be aged from 30 to 40
and he was about 165 centimeters tall, according to investigators.
The autopsies on the Saitama couple conducted by the prefectural police
indicated that they may have been killed by a large Japanese kitchen knife with
a long, thick blade.
Yamaguchi sustained more than 10 wounds, with one around 16.5 centimeters long
that reached his heart, the sources said.
The assailant is believed to have stabbed the victims relentlessly and the edge
of the knife may have become dull, they said, suggesting that the assailant may
have used another weapon to stab Yoshihara's wife in Tokyo.
No weapons have been found at either of the sites, the sources said.
The attacks are suspected to be linked to resentment over the country's pension
fiasco that erupted last year, because both Yamaguchi and Yoshihara had served
as heads of the former Health and Welfare Ministry's Pension Bureau and also as
vice health and welfare ministers, according to investigative sources.
There is no evidence that the assailant ransacked the homes for money or
valuables, the sources said.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and its affiliate, the Social
Insurance Agency, have come under severe public criticism over the pension
fiasco, involving about 51 million unidentified public pension accounts.
Earlier this year, the Social Insurance Agency, the country's pension scheme
operator, said one of its staffers had instructed companies that were falling
behind in paying premiums for a government-managed pension scheme for corporate
employees to falsify their employees' monthly income, used as a benchmark to
calculate premiums.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was established through the merger of
the former Health and Welfare Ministry and the former Labor Ministry in 2001.
Investigations by the Metropolitan Police Department show that Yoshihara lived
with his wife and their son at their home and that he was out at the time of
the attack to attend an alumni event.
Yoshihara has told investigators that he has done nothing to provoke a grudge,
the police sources said.
Yoshihara's wife Yasuko, who was stabbed, regained consciousness Wednesday
night, the sources said.
Investigations by the Saitama prefectural police detected a number of blood
traces in the passage and kitchen at Yamaguchi's home in Saitama and also found
shoe marks left by the assailant.
A suspicious-looking man who appeared to be scouting out the neighborhood was
witnessed near Yamaguchi's Saitama home about 10 days before the couple were
found dead, the police sources said.
The man, about 170 centimeters tall and wearing a cap and bluish working
uniform, was seen looking at a map at the closed end of a street around 100
meters west of the Yamaguchis' home at around 7 p.m., according to a witness.
The man left the scene when he noticed that the witness was watching him
suspiciously, the witness said.
The Saitama prefectural police said they suspect that the man may have been the
killer of Yamaguchi and his wife, and may have come to check out the
neighborhood. They are seeking other witnesses.
Meanwhile, at around 6:50 p.m. on Monday, the day the couple were believed to
have been attacked, a 30-year-old man who lives in the neighborhood said he
heard screaming for around 10-15 seconds that sounded like a brawl.
In Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department said it is also looking for
witnesses near Yoshihara's home.
==Kyodo
The revelation emerged after a number of traces of blood and bloody footprints
were found inside the homes of Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, in Saitama's Minami Ward
and Kenji Yoshihara, 76, in Tokyo's Nakano Ward.
The assailant might have intended to kill all of the former ministers' family
members in the attacks, the sources said.
The footprints in the homes appear to have been made by athletic shoes, but the
patterns were not identical. It is possible that the attacks were carried out
by the same person but that the assailant changed shoes before committing the
second crime, they said.
Yamaguchi and his wife Michiko, 61, were found stabbed to death Tuesday morning
at their home in Saitama. The couple are believed to have been killed Monday.
In the evening of the same day, a man disguised as a home-delivery man visited
Yoshihara's Tokyo home and stabbed his wife Yasuko, 72, who suffered serious
wounds. Yoshihara was not at home at the time.
Yasuko told the police Thursday that the man appeared to be aged from 30 to 40
and he was about 165 centimeters tall, according to investigators.
The autopsies on the Saitama couple conducted by the prefectural police
indicated that they may have been killed by a large Japanese kitchen knife with
a long, thick blade.
Yamaguchi sustained more than 10 wounds, with one around 16.5 centimeters long
that reached his heart, the sources said.
The assailant is believed to have stabbed the victims relentlessly and the edge
of the knife may have become dull, they said, suggesting that the assailant may
have used another weapon to stab Yoshihara's wife in Tokyo.
No weapons have been found at either of the sites, the sources said.
The attacks are suspected to be linked to resentment over the country's pension
fiasco that erupted last year, because both Yamaguchi and Yoshihara had served
as heads of the former Health and Welfare Ministry's Pension Bureau and also as
vice health and welfare ministers, according to investigative sources.
There is no evidence that the assailant ransacked the homes for money or
valuables, the sources said.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and its affiliate, the Social
Insurance Agency, have come under severe public criticism over the pension
fiasco, involving about 51 million unidentified public pension accounts.
Earlier this year, the Social Insurance Agency, the country's pension scheme
operator, said one of its staffers had instructed companies that were falling
behind in paying premiums for a government-managed pension scheme for corporate
employees to falsify their employees' monthly income, used as a benchmark to
calculate premiums.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was established through the merger of
the former Health and Welfare Ministry and the former Labor Ministry in 2001.
Investigations by the Metropolitan Police Department show that Yoshihara lived
with his wife and their son at their home and that he was out at the time of
the attack to attend an alumni event.
Yoshihara has told investigators that he has done nothing to provoke a grudge,
the police sources said.
Yoshihara's wife Yasuko, who was stabbed, regained consciousness Wednesday
night, the sources said.
Investigations by the Saitama prefectural police detected a number of blood
traces in the passage and kitchen at Yamaguchi's home in Saitama and also found
shoe marks left by the assailant.
A suspicious-looking man who appeared to be scouting out the neighborhood was
witnessed near Yamaguchi's Saitama home about 10 days before the couple were
found dead, the police sources said.
The man, about 170 centimeters tall and wearing a cap and bluish working
uniform, was seen looking at a map at the closed end of a street around 100
meters west of the Yamaguchis' home at around 7 p.m., according to a witness.
The man left the scene when he noticed that the witness was watching him
suspiciously, the witness said.
The Saitama prefectural police said they suspect that the man may have been the
killer of Yamaguchi and his wife, and may have come to check out the
neighborhood. They are seeking other witnesses.
Meanwhile, at around 6:50 p.m. on Monday, the day the couple were believed to
have been attacked, a 30-year-old man who lives in the neighborhood said he
heard screaming for around 10-15 seconds that sounded like a brawl.
In Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department said it is also looking for
witnesses near Yoshihara's home.
==Kyodo
