Japanese schoolgirl suspected in grisly murder

[EvanL]

BY AUDREY MCAVOY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO — An 11-year-old girl led a fellow sixth-grader to an empty classroom during their school lunch hour today, slit her throat and slashed arms with a box-cutter and left her to bleed to death.

The grisly slaying at an ordinary elementary school in southern Japan sent shockwaves through the community, leaving many asking how such a tragedy could occur.

The body of Satomi Mitarai, 12, was found by a teacher after the girl who attacked her returned to class in bloody clothes. The teacher called police.

Mitarai died of blood loss after being slashed in the neck and arms with a retractable knife used to cut paper and boxes, police said.

Her father rushed to Okubo elementary school in Sasebo, about 1,050 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, after receiving a call that his daughter was hurt.

"When I arrived, Satomi was already lying there collapsed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said Kyoji Mitarai, who is head of the Sasebo bureau of the Mainichi newspaper.

"I can't put in words what I'm feeling right now," he added. "I can't understand it at all. I don't have a clue."

He said his daughter never spoke of disagreements with her classmates and appeared to get along well with them.

Authorities took the suspected attacker into custody for questioning. Police called her "Girl A," in accordance with Japanese legal protections that prohibit identifying juvenile offenders.

"Girl A" had called Satomi out of their classroom as lunch time was beginning and took her to a nearby room. In Japan, lunch is commonly eaten in classrooms.

The girls' teacher said she first noticed something was wrong when the two were missing, public broadcaster NHK reported. Shortly afterward, "Girl A" returned, smeared with blood.

Police said she confessed to the slaying and said, sobbing, "I have done a bad thing."

Authorities said the did not know the motive for the attack.

Satomi's body was discovered by a teacher who called police. Emergency medical workers said they arrived to find her lying face down on the floor. She wasn't breathing and her heart had stopped, said Kazuyoshi Tominaga of the Sasebo Central Fire Department.

Serious juvenile crimes have become a rising concern in Japan in recent years.

Last July, a 12-year-old boy in Nagasaki — a city just north of Sasebo — was accused of kidnapping, molesting and murdering a four-year-old by shoving him off the roof of a car garage.

In the same month, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for beating a 13-year-old classmate to death in Okinawa.

Just three years ago, legislators lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 14 from 16 years amid public outrage over the brutal beheading of a 10-year-old boy by a 14-year-old in 1997.

Last year's slaying in Nagasaki prompted many to wonder whether the age should be again lowered.

Violent juvenile crimes remain rare in Japan, however. The 1,986 "heinous crimes" — murder, robbery, arson and rape — committed by Japanese minors in 2002 represented just 1.4 per cent of all youth offences, according to the National Police Agency.

Japan's justice system emphasizes rehabilitation over punishment for minors. The boy who beheaded the 10-year-old in 1997 was freed from custody in March at age 21.

Education officials said schools would be offering students counselling after the Sasebo slashing.

"Doctors and school counsellors will offer help if needed," said Koichi Tsurusaki, the head of the Sasebo Education Committee. "Many asked for help after last year's Nagasaki incident, so we'd like the counsellors to direct the response."

[mocking_loudly_died]

To much anime, the Japanese are weird buggers.

[Trigger]

It's all because they stopped making Godzilla movies. Instead of fighting giant moths and stuff they've turned inward. Sad.

[mocking_loudly_died]

Godzilla wasn't real?

[Trigger]

erm...yeah, he was....they were documentaries...yeah.

*hides mocking's box cutters*

[Vance]

What the **** are they putting in the water?

[StarvingStudent47]

The part that gets me is that she went back to class, still covered in blood.

That little girl is FECKED UP.

[Abolith]

The part that gets me is that she went back to class, still covered in blood.

That little girl is FECKED UP.

oh hell ya she is. I mean **** that sounds like something out of a bad horror flick. evil person kills and walks back to class covered in blood.....only it was real...that girl has M A J O R head issues.

[StarvingStudent47]

oh hell ya she is. I mean **** that sounds like something out of a bad horror flick. evil person kills and walks back to class covered in blood.....only it was real...that girl has M A J O R head issues.

It reminds me of The Ring. That movie scared the living **** out of me--not because I was afraid for the safety of the main characters (who I didn't really care about), but because little girls just aren't supposed to be that evil.

And here it is in real life.

[Vance]

Police said she confessed to the slaying and said, sobbing, "I have done a bad thing."


OK that's messed up. :|

[FallenAngel]

oh hell ya she is. I mean **** that sounds like something out of a bad horror flick. evil person kills and walks back to class covered in blood.....only it was real...that girl has M A J O R head issues.

It reminds me of The Ring. That movie scared the living **** out of me--not because I was afraid for the safety of the main characters (who I didn't really care about), but because little girls just aren't supposed to be that evil.

And here it is in real life.

Watch "The Bad Seed". Old movie, but has an evil lil bitch in it.

This is truly f*cked up. I don't know what's worse...this, or a shool shooting although both are tragic.

[Fintin]

note to self....dont go to japan....they officaly scare me now....coffe out of a vending machine is one thing....school girls killing people....i mean thats right out of a movie...::looks at KBvol1:: EEEEEEK

[PsihoKeke]

Hmm, I tried to kill some kid in school when I was in seventh grade, but he was better runner than I was. What's so weird of school girls killing other people? There were a quite a few cases of schoolboys killing other children in USA. Boy or girl, if few screws are missing in his/hers head he/she is going to kill someone. Since firearms are not as avaible in Japan as in USA they kill with knife and other avaible stuff. And politicans than blame it all on games, movies and animes. Hell ten years ago I chased the kid that was bullying me since the second grade through whole school and I would gutt him if I caught him. At that time I didn't have computer hence I couldn't play games and I didn't watch the TV late at night, it was just that he drove me crazy with bullying. And those that are born murderers? Bigger the society, bigger the statistical chance that they will show up.

[StarvingStudent47]

Hmm, I tried to kill some kid in school when I was in seventh grade, but he was better runner than I was. What's so weird of school girls killing other people? There were a quite a few cases of schoolboys killing other children in USA. Boy or girl, if few screws are missing in his/hers head he/she is going to kill someone. Since firearms are not as avaible in Japan as in USA they kill with knife and other avaible stuff. And politicans than blame it all on games, movies and animes. Hell ten years ago I chased the kid that was bullying me since the second grade through whole school and I would gutt him if I caught him. At that time I didn't have computer hence I couldn't play games and I didn't watch the TV late at night, it was just that he drove me crazy with bullying. And those that are born murderers? Bigger the society, bigger the statistical chance that they will show up.

I don't think it's the fact that she killed; I think it's the manner that is really blowing people away.

I'll be the first to address the rest of the article: what should be done with her. She should NOT be tried as an adult IMO--I don't think she should go to jail at all. She should be institutionalized permanently with no hope of release. This girl is damaged goods if there ever was such a thing. The absence of any sort of detectable malice, as well as any attempt to conceal the crime (she came back to class still covered in blood, for ****'s sake) makes this different than the normal definition of murder. Lock her up, but make sure it's a padded cell, not a penitentiary. She doesn't need punishment--she needs permanent supervision, therapy, and probably some powerful anti-psychotic drugs.

Klebold and Harris killed because they were full of hate. This girl...Jeez, who knows.

[duck]

"Sixth-grader kills her classmate, 12
Slaying at school in Nagasaki stuns nation

Compiled from Kyodo, AP
A sixth-grade girl died Tuesday after a female classmate stabbed her in the neck with a hobby knife in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, police said.

Kyoji Mitarai, the father of 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai (inset), who was fatally stabbed at an elementary school in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, addresses the media.

Nagasaki Prefectural Police said the assault took place around 12:20 p.m. in a classroom in the municipally run Okubo Elementary School.

Police in Sasebo said the victim suffered wounds to the neck and arms.

They identified the victim as Satomi Mitarai, 12, who was the daughter of Kyoji Mitarai, 45, the Sasebo bureau chief of the Mainichi Shimbun.

The attacker, identified only as being 11, was taken into police custody. She is being questioned on a voluntary basis.

Investigators said the suspect has admitted attacking Mitarai. She was quoted as making a teary confession to police that she had done "a bad thing."

According to investigations, the girl called Mitarai out from their classroom to another room on the same third floor of the school during the lunch break.

Their homeroom teacher noticed that the two girls were missing around 12:35, when all the children had sat down to lunch.

Just as the class began to worry about their whereabouts, the attacker walked into her classroom covered in blood. She said the blood was not hers.

After questioning the girl, the teacher found Mitarai around 12:45 p.m. and asked staff to call an ambulance. Mitarai was confirmed dead when it arrived, the police said.

School officials canceled all afternoon classes and sent pupils in the first to fifth grades home in groups. All sixth-graders were told to remain and were questioned about the incident.

Mitarai was the youngest of three children and the family's only daughter, according Mainichi officials.

Her mother died of cancer in September 2001, and she was living on the third floor of the building housing the bureau with her father and 14-year-old brother. The eldest son, a 20-year-old university student, lives away from home, they added.

She enrolled in Okubo Elementary School in April 2002 after her father's job brought them to the city.

Mitarai's father told a news conference in the evening that he had no idea why such an incident should have happened. He said his daughter was "like air" to him.

"I cannot imagine life without her around me," he said. "But the unimaginable has happened, and I don't know what to say."

He said school officials had called him to say that his daughter had been injured. He rushed over from the bureau, which is nearby, and found his daughter lying still on the classroom floor.

He said he had never heard about any problems at school from his daughter.

"After losing my wife two years ago, I had been raising (Satomi) with affection, while at the same time knowing that I should not spoil her," he said.

He said he did not see his daughter off to school that morning because he was busy doing laundry.

When asked what he wanted to tell her killer, he said, "She is (around) the same age (as my daughter), and so I hope that she clearly explains what happened when she calms down."

The 51-year-old father of one of Mitarai's classmates said he was shocked by the news, which he heard from his wife over the phone.

He said he rushed to the school for more information. Because the attacker was not identified, he said he feared that his daughter might have been the culprit.

He said Mitarai was a bright and cheerful girl.

"While I don't know who the attacker is, she is still a child, and I worry about her future," he said.

By law, children under 14 years of age cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions.

Police will notify the local child welfare office of the girl's actions. The office will then decide whether to send the case to a family court or place her in a support facility.

If the case is sent to the family court, the court can decide to place the offender in a juvenile classification home for monitoring and protection. Children 13 or younger can be kept there for a maximum of four weeks while authorities investigate the case, including checks on the accused's family background. The child can also be made to submit to psychiatric tests.

If the family court determines there was criminal activity, it will decide on a correctional program for the child.

Increasing violence in schools and juvenile crime has been a mounting concern in recent years.

Last July, a 12-year-old boy was accused of kidnapping, molesting and murdering a 4-year-old in Nagasaki Prefecture. In the same month, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for beating a 13-year-old classmate to death in Okinawa Prefecture.

In Tokyo, education minister Takeo Kawamura expressed shock.

"I myself was left speechless," he told reporters.

Schools have stepped up efforts to enhance security after a June 2001 stabbing spree at an elementary school in Osaka Prefecture left eight children dead. But many of these precautions are targeted at dealing with intruders, not those within the school.

The Japan Times: June 2, 2004
(C) All rights reserved "

Two families destroyed.

[California Joe]

Jeremy spoke in class today.....

[mocking_loudly_died]

No Poof Jam please.

[California Joe]

No Poof Jam please.

Didn't sat I was a fan.

Jesus loves you.

[mocking_loudly_died]

Okay then.

Jesus loves the little children.

[Haiw]

I actually heard that too. Jesus loves little children. With some mayonaise and curry. They meat is way better than that of adults.

[Javehn]

Country that produces Tubgirl , can also produce crazy little kids ...
Japs are strange fellas .

[Kenshin]

Jeremy spoke in class today.....

Yeah and wheres Eddie Veder?

[Hawaii_Light]

Holy ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


thats the same ******* place im moving to this month.

edited due to my post being low on information.

my mom works as a early childhood supervisor and has been hired by a contractor to help run a program in sesabo for the U.S navy. Im moving there on the 28th of this month.

[stateofequilibrium]

No doubt about it, Japan is incredibly fudged up.

Just trying to understand it is difficult. You have a society that puts a premium on structure, obedience, loyalty. You have a a large degree of family structure as well. The education system is almost out of control in its toughness. You have media and culture that is fascinated with *** and brutality. Schoolgirls that whore themselves out for pocket money. Children under so much stress they become violent hermits. Kids attacking their parents with knives over the time they're allowed to play with their playstation.

[Hawaii_Light]

well stated, your right the japanese culture puts more demand on perfection then other cultures.
with more presure to be perfect comes stress and rebelous feelings towards those who pressure you, if unable to take these out on the people who pressure them they may take it out on innocent people (ie: freinds, siblings, ect.)

these grusome murders are probably the effect of held in anger and frustration against their lifestyle.

[stateofequilibrium]

well stated, your right the japanese culture puts more demand on perfection then other cultures.
with more presure to be perfect comes stress and rebelous feelings towards those who pressure you, if unable to take these out on the people who pressure them they may take it out on innocent people (ie: freinds, siblings, ect.)

these grusome murders are probably the effect of held in anger and frustration against their lifestyle.

Yep, pretty much. Though I'm just thinking that girl was more than likely just downright disturbed if anything.

Japan is dualistic.. perfection and perversity.

[ShadowNeo]

I remember seeing a program about this kind of stuff a couple of years ago.

It was about the teenagers in general in Japan, and how they were becoming so stressed by the school system, and the constraints on their time. The way it works in Japan (I am led to believe) is that a child needs to get into the right school, to get into the right high school, to get into the right university, to get into the right job, and the work is extremely tough for them.

The program found that many Japanese Teenagers had turned to venting their frustration by killing. This was compounded by minimal punishment to children for murdering, and as such, many Japanese teenagers wanted to feel what it was like to kill someone, before they could be punished for it.

Anyhoo, as I said this was years ago, and things have probably (hopefully) changed. I am however somewhat mystified at the comments of japan being "incredibly fudged up". Every nation has its fair share of the misguided, and plain ol' wierdoes.

For instance, the current Wierdo of the Week (tm) in the UK is this guy who has just been banned from entering any National Health Service building in the entire country, after over 47 persistent assaults within a year, just so he could feed his fetish of collecting surgical masks O_o.

[Hawaii_Light]

For instance, the current Wierdo of the Week (tm) in the UK is this guy who has just been banned from entering any National Health Service building in the entire country, after over 47 persistent assaults within a year, just so he could feed his fetish of collecting surgical masks O_o.


rofl , so thats where all those surgical masks that people tried to send to china ended up.