TOKYO: Tokyo police arrested Saturday (Nov 22) a 43-year-old Ground Self-Defence Force member on suspicion of attempted murder in a case in which a woman was stabbed to suffer serious injuries earlier this month.
Held by the Metropolitan Police Department was Lt. Col. Yoichiro Otsu, who belongs to the GSDF’s Camp Asaka in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward.
The suspect has denied the allegations against him, according to investigative sources.
During voluntary questioning before the arrest, the suspect told police, “I know the woman, but I have had no problems with her.” The MPD is investigating his motive of the suspected crime.
Otsu, who lives in the ward, is suspected of causing serious injuries to the woman in her 40s by stabbing her in the left side and left hand on the first basement level of a commercial building in the busy Akasaka district in Tokyo’s Minato Ward around 10.30am Sunday.
The woman was at the building to attend a performance at a live music club on the basement level. She was attacked while waiting in front of the club for its door to be unlocked.
Otsu told investigators that he was off work Sunday but was at his workplace from the morning to around noon and then returned home.
Security camera footage showed Otsu leaving Camp Asaka around 6.30am that day and traveling about 20km to the site of the incident by bicycle before returning to the camp shortly after noon. His bicycle was confiscated from his home.
Footage from security cameras installed around the crime scene showed Otsu loitering around areas near the site from around 8am and watching people entering and leaving the building in question.
As soon as the woman went down to the basement level, the man followed her into the building and fled the scene about 30 seconds later.
The man changed his shoes and put on gloves before the incident, and changed his jacket and shoes while he was on the run, according to investigators. The police therefore believe that the attack was premeditated.
Naoyuki Abo, chief of the first facilities battalion at Camp Asaka, said, “We pray for the recovery of the victim, and will cooperate fully with police investigations and take strict action over the incident based on facts.”
Otsu, who has been working for the GSDF for 25 years, is in charge of managing equipment used in training and drills at Camp Asaka, such as hydraulic excavators, according to sources including the GSDF. He continued to work normally even after the incident.
Otsu joined the GSDF in 2000. After receiving training for new GSDF members at Camp Takeyama in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Otsu was deployed to work in areas including Ibaraki and Aomori prefectures.
He was transferred to the first facilities battalion at Camp Asaka in March 2024. There were no issues with his work attitude, the sources said. His home is about 1.8 kilometers from the camp. - Jiji Press
