Woman Indicted in 1999 Fatal Stabbing in Central Japan

Nagoya, March 5 (Jiji Press)–Public prosecutors on Thursday indicted a 69-year-old woman on suspicion of fatally stabbing a housewife in Nagoya in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi more than a quarter century ago. According to the indictment, Kumiko Yasufuku is suspected of killing Namiko Takaba, 32, by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck and other areas of her body with a knife at the victim’s apartment in the Aichi capital on Nov. 13, 1999. Takaba’s son, Kohei, then 2, who was in the apartment at the time, was unharmed. Her husband, Satoru, now 69, was at work. Investigators believe that the suspect washed her hand injured during the attack at the sink in the apartment room. DNA from bloodstains at the scene matched the suspect’s profile, leading to her arrest last October. The Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office concluded that Yasufuku, a high school classmate of Satoru, is mentally competent to bear criminal responsibility as a result of psychiatric examinations on her. The case will proceed in a lay judge trial after pretrial procedures to narrow down issues and sort out evidence. One central question will likely be whether the defendant had full criminal responsibility at the time of the murder. Yasufuku initially spoke to investigators but later invoked her right to remain silent, so investigators have yet to determine her motive. Whether she will break her silence in court is another focus. According to Satoru, Yasufuku had harbored a one-sided affection for him during their high school and university years. About five months before the crime, they met for the first time in about 20 years, at a reunion of their high school tennis club. Satoru recalled that Yasufuku told him that she was “doing well in both work and child-rearing.” But Satoru said he has no idea what might have motivated the suspect to attack his wife. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]