ID :
31887
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 09:13
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https://oananews.org//node/31887
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Fresh warrant to be served on man over murder of ex-welfare official
TOKYO, Nov. 23 Kyodo - Police plan to serve a fresh arrest warrant soon on a 46-year-old man on
suspicion of murdering a former vice health and welfare minister and his wife,
investigative sources said Sunday.
The man, Takeshi Koizumi, turned himself in to the Metropolitan Police
Department in central Tokyo on Saturday night, saying he ''stabbed a (former)
vice minister,'' and was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of a sword and
firearms control law violation as he had a bloodstained knife in a rental car
that he drove to the police department.
Koizumi, unemployed, has admitted to his involvement in the murders of Takehiko
Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife Michiko, 61, as well as his involvement in the
assault on Yasuko Yoshihara, 72, the wife of Kenji Yoshihara, 76, who was also
a vice health and welfare minister.
He told officers, ''I was hacked off because my pet was killed by a healthcare
center in the past,'' according to the police.
Koizumi's 77-year-old father told reporters in his home in Yamaguchi Prefecture
that the family briefly kept a stray dog when his son was in elementary school,
but the father, without obtaining consent from the son, eventually took the dog
to an animal center to be put down because it barked.
The Tokyo and Saitama prefectural police on Sunday jointly searched the home in
Saitama City of Koizumi on suspicion of attempted murder over the assault case.
The Yamaguchis were found dead with stab wounds to the chest at their home in
Saitama City on Tuesday morning. They are believed to have been murdered
Monday.
Later Tuesday in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, Yasuko Yoshihara suffered serious wounds
after being stabbed at the entrance to her home by a man pretending to be from
a parcel delivery firm. Her husband was not in at the time.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. said Sunday that Koizumi is believed
to have sent an e-mail message to the major TV station shortly before turning
himself in to police. The message read, ''The uprising this time is not a
pension terror attack,'' TBS said.
The joint investigative team of the Tokyo and Saitama police has looked into
the possibility that discontent over pensions could be behind the high-profile
cases, as both former vice health and welfare ministers were involved in
Japan's pension policy.
''This is the revenge for the killing by a healthcare center of my family
member 34 years ago,'' the e-mail message said. ''Even now, they keep killing
as many as 500,000 innocent pets every year. They should know that if they
commit needless butchery, it will come back to them,'' it said, according to
the broadcaster.
Koizumi had the bloodied knife for which he was arrested along with seven other
knives in the rental car he drove to the MPD at around 9:20 p.m. Saturday,
according to the police. TBS said the e-mail was sent at 7:09 p.m.
He said the bloodstained knife, which has a blade about 20 centimeters long,
belongs to him, and the MPD suspects it was used in the cases.
The police said footprints left around the Yoshihara home are a match with a
pair of sneakers Koizumi brought to the MPD.
Prime Minister Taro Aso commented on the arrest, telling reporters in Lima on
Saturday afternoon local time, ''If he really is the culprit, it's
unforgivable.''
The Tokyo and Saitama prefectural police have viewed the cases as possible
serial ''terror'' attacks against former health and welfare ministry
bureaucrats stemming from widespread public resentment over problems with the
country's pension system.
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.
The government will continue tightening security for current and former senior
health and welfare ministry officials until obtaining conclusive proof, such as
by DNA analysis, that Koizumi committed the murders and assault, a government
source said.
As for Koizumi's alleged claim that he attacked the former vice health and
welfare ministers ''in revenge'' for the death of his pet dog, Jungoro Kondo,
65, who served in the post between 2001 and 2002, said, ''Healthcare centers
are run by prefectural and municipal governments. It is a gross
misunderstanding that they are managed by the health and welfare ministry.''
According to the Environment Ministry, some 340,000 dogs and cats were put down
by local governments across the nation in fiscal 2006 after they failed to find
new owners for the abandoned animals.
==Kyodo
suspicion of murdering a former vice health and welfare minister and his wife,
investigative sources said Sunday.
The man, Takeshi Koizumi, turned himself in to the Metropolitan Police
Department in central Tokyo on Saturday night, saying he ''stabbed a (former)
vice minister,'' and was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of a sword and
firearms control law violation as he had a bloodstained knife in a rental car
that he drove to the police department.
Koizumi, unemployed, has admitted to his involvement in the murders of Takehiko
Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife Michiko, 61, as well as his involvement in the
assault on Yasuko Yoshihara, 72, the wife of Kenji Yoshihara, 76, who was also
a vice health and welfare minister.
He told officers, ''I was hacked off because my pet was killed by a healthcare
center in the past,'' according to the police.
Koizumi's 77-year-old father told reporters in his home in Yamaguchi Prefecture
that the family briefly kept a stray dog when his son was in elementary school,
but the father, without obtaining consent from the son, eventually took the dog
to an animal center to be put down because it barked.
The Tokyo and Saitama prefectural police on Sunday jointly searched the home in
Saitama City of Koizumi on suspicion of attempted murder over the assault case.
The Yamaguchis were found dead with stab wounds to the chest at their home in
Saitama City on Tuesday morning. They are believed to have been murdered
Monday.
Later Tuesday in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, Yasuko Yoshihara suffered serious wounds
after being stabbed at the entrance to her home by a man pretending to be from
a parcel delivery firm. Her husband was not in at the time.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. said Sunday that Koizumi is believed
to have sent an e-mail message to the major TV station shortly before turning
himself in to police. The message read, ''The uprising this time is not a
pension terror attack,'' TBS said.
The joint investigative team of the Tokyo and Saitama police has looked into
the possibility that discontent over pensions could be behind the high-profile
cases, as both former vice health and welfare ministers were involved in
Japan's pension policy.
''This is the revenge for the killing by a healthcare center of my family
member 34 years ago,'' the e-mail message said. ''Even now, they keep killing
as many as 500,000 innocent pets every year. They should know that if they
commit needless butchery, it will come back to them,'' it said, according to
the broadcaster.
Koizumi had the bloodied knife for which he was arrested along with seven other
knives in the rental car he drove to the MPD at around 9:20 p.m. Saturday,
according to the police. TBS said the e-mail was sent at 7:09 p.m.
He said the bloodstained knife, which has a blade about 20 centimeters long,
belongs to him, and the MPD suspects it was used in the cases.
The police said footprints left around the Yoshihara home are a match with a
pair of sneakers Koizumi brought to the MPD.
Prime Minister Taro Aso commented on the arrest, telling reporters in Lima on
Saturday afternoon local time, ''If he really is the culprit, it's
unforgivable.''
The Tokyo and Saitama prefectural police have viewed the cases as possible
serial ''terror'' attacks against former health and welfare ministry
bureaucrats stemming from widespread public resentment over problems with the
country's pension system.
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.
The government will continue tightening security for current and former senior
health and welfare ministry officials until obtaining conclusive proof, such as
by DNA analysis, that Koizumi committed the murders and assault, a government
source said.
As for Koizumi's alleged claim that he attacked the former vice health and
welfare ministers ''in revenge'' for the death of his pet dog, Jungoro Kondo,
65, who served in the post between 2001 and 2002, said, ''Healthcare centers
are run by prefectural and municipal governments. It is a gross
misunderstanding that they are managed by the health and welfare ministry.''
According to the Environment Ministry, some 340,000 dogs and cats were put down
by local governments across the nation in fiscal 2006 after they failed to find
new owners for the abandoned animals.
==Kyodo
