The Kanagawa prefectural police arrested late Monday a 23-year-old former employee of a nursing home in Kawasaki on suspicion of killing a resident by throwing him off the balcony on the fourth floor of the facility in 2014.
According to the police, Hayato Imai is suspected of having thrown Tamio Ushizawa, 87, to his death from the balcony of his room on the fourth floor at S Amille Kawasaki Saiwaicho in Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki, between the approximate times of 11 p.m. on Nov. 3 and 1:50 a.m. on Nov. 4 in 2014.
Ushizawa died of internal organ rupture.
Imai, who admitted to the charges during police questioning, said, “It’s true that I threw [Ushizawa] off.” He said he intended to kill him.
At the nursing home, two other elderly residents fell to their deaths from balconies in December 2014.
An 86-year-old woman was found dead after falling from a balcony on the fourth floor of the facility early on Dec. 9 and a 96-year-old woman was found dead after falling from a balcony on the sixth floor early on Dec. 31.
Imai is said to have talked about these two other fatal cases during police questioning.
The Kanagawa prefectural police are looking into a motive for the killing of Ushizawa.
Ushizawa and the two women lived in individual rooms and no suicide notes were found. They were about 150 centimeters to 160 centimeters tall. It is thought that it would have been difficult for them to get over the balcony fence, which is about 120 centimeters high, on their own.
According to the police, Imai was the first person to find Ushizawa and the 96-year-old woman dead. There were no witnesses or security camera images in any of the three cases.
At the facility, three employees are on duty at night in principle and take turns making rounds and offering assistance to residents if necessary. Imai was on duty at the time of the three deaths.
According to investigative sources, the Kanagawa prefectural police have been questioning Imai on a voluntary basis since late January. He is said to have told the police details related to Ushizawa’s death that only a perpetrator would have known. He admitted to killing Ushizawa on Monday. A senior Kanagawa prefectural police official said the police will investigate material evidence that supports Imai’s confession.
Imai was fired after he was arrested in May last year over three theft cases in which he was suspected to have stolen cash and jewelry from residents of the facility from January to April that year. He was found guilty of those charges in September.
Imai denied his involvement in the three fatal cases during an interview near his home while he was on bail in early September. “I’m sad because I was taking care of the three of them,” he said.
According to the Kawasaki city government, S Amille Kawasaki Saiwaicho was opened in November 2011. The six-story reinforced concrete building has 80 individual rooms. The facility accommodates elderly using the nursing care insurance system.(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002752534
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