Sasebo Slaying News Archive

Articles from the Mainichi Daily News:

Elementary school girl fatally stabbed by classmate in Nagasaki

2004.06.01

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An elementary school girl was fatally stabbed by a classmate during their lunch break on Tuesday, police said.
Nagasaki Prefectural Police have taken the 11-year-old attacker into custody. She admitted to stabbing the victim with a paper cutter.
However, the killer cannot be prosecuted because she is under 14, the minimum age at which children can be charged under the Juvenile Law.
The victim has been identified as Satomi Mitarai, 12, daughter of Kyoji Mitarai, the 45-year-old chief of the Mainichi Shimbun Sasebo bureau and a sixth-year student at Sasebo Municipal Okubo Elementary School.
"I still don't understand what exactly happened," said Kyoji Mitarai, the victim's father, on Tuesday night.
Officers from Sasebo Police Station said that the 11-year-old girl tearfully regretted what she did.
"I have committed something really bad," the officers quoted the girl as saying.They plan to question all sixth-year students at the school about the motives behind the attack.
When the lunch break began at their classroom at around 12:35 p.m., the teacher in charge noticed that the two students were not in the room.
The 11-year-old attacker soon appeared and her dress was blood stained. When the teacher asked her about the blood, she reportedly said, "This is not my blood. Another girl is in a study room."
The teacher and several colleagues rushed to the study room to find Satomi lying on the floor.
At around 12:45 p.m., a local fire station received an emergency call from the deputy principal of Okubo Elementary School, saying that a girl had been stabbed. The girl was dead by the time paramedics arrived at the school. The paper cutter was found in the room.
Both girls belonged to the same sixth-grade class, investigators said. The name of the girl who stabbed the victim is being withheld under the Juvenile Law.
After hearing of the attack, many parents rushed to the school and accompanied their children home.
A shocked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for a thorough investigation. "I think officials should probe the incident carefully and take preventive measures." (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 1, 2004)

Sasebo school killer says victim bad-mouthed her on Net

2004.06.02

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- A girl who admitted to fatally stabbing her classmate at school here said that the victim had bad-mouthed her on an Internet homepage, police said Wednesday.
After taking the 11-year-old girl into custody, police officers have been questioning her over her reasons for fatally stabbing her classmate, Satomi Mitarai, at Sasebo Municipal Okubo Elementary School on Tuesday.
Officers are investigating messages Satomi, 12, wrote about the attacker on an Internet chat site.
Officials of the Sasebo Municipal Board of Education said that both Satomi and the girl were Internet savvy and had opened their own homepages through which they apparently exchanged messages. Police believe that the girls exchanged e-mail with each other daily.
Police have already said that the 11-year-old girl slashed the victim's throat several times in the school's study room during their lunch break on Tuesday.
The girl told officers that she made the victim sit on the floor before the attack.The officers said that they questioned her for more than five hours on Tuesday from 2 p.m. During questioning on Wednesday, the girl was calm, they said.
The Sasebo child consultation office on Wednesday sent the girl to the Sasebo branch of the Nagasaki Family Court where law enforcers will discuss how to handle the case and decide whether to open a juvenile trial.
The girl was later sent to a juvenile facility in Nagasaki where she will stay.
She will not be tried in a criminal court, as she is under 14, the minimum age at which children can be criminally charged under the Juvenile Law.
Meanwhile, parents of many students accompanied their children to Okubo Elementary School on Wednesday, a day after the shocking incident.
Most parents said that they were worried over the psychological trauma the stabbing will have on the children.
"My daughter told me that she saw blood on the corridor," said the 48-year-old father of a 9-year-old student at the school. "My daughter is asking why this kind of incident happened."
The 40-year-old mother of a 10-year-old student said that her daughter had been so shocked that she ate nothing on Wednesday morning.
"I want to ask the school why this happened," said the father of another 9-year-old girl. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 2, 2004)

Schoolgirl killer says she was inspired by TV murder drama

2004.06.03

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An 11-year-old girl who admitted to slashing 12-year-old fellow classmate Satomi Mitarai to death at school with a paper cutter has told prefectural police she decided to attack her victim after watching a television drama.
"I watched a TV drama and decided to try (to kill her)," the 11-year-old, who cannot be named because of her age, was quoted as telling police.
The girl, who was taken into custody after the attack on Tuesday, reportedly told police she had planned to kill Satomi four days earlier, and investigators said it was possible scenes in the drama had sparked the attack with the paper cutter.
The drama, titled "Getsuyo Misuterii Gekijo 'Hosutesu Tantei Kiki Ippatsu'" (Monday mystery theater 'the hostess detectives' close call') was broadcast last Monday from about 9 p.m. Through the two-hour installments of the series, three hostesses in a club in Tokyo's Ginza district work together to solve crimes.
In the show on Monday, a real-estate boss and his lover are killed. A total of five victims are attacked on the street in the show, and including flashback scenes, eight scenes portray people being attacked with paper cutters.
The 11-year-old girl under arrested reportedly told police that she had decided to attack Satomi in the same way.
"I saw that drama. I thought I'd do it that way," she was quoted as telling investigators.
Investigators said that on Tuesday afternoon, when the girl sat Satomi down in a chair and cut her throat with a paper cutter, she stood behind Satomi and covered her face with her hand.
Police also quoted the girl as saying, "I had thought of other ways to kill her apart from using a paper cutter."
During a news conference on Thursday, lawyers for the girl, including Mitsuo Hazama and Nozomu Kawazoe, said the 11-year-old had begun to question her actions.
"I wonder why I did it. If I thought and acted properly it wouldn't have happened. I would like to apologize (to Satomi if I could)," the girl was quoted as saying.
Hazama and Kawazoe met and talked with her for about one hour from 9 a.m.
The lawyers said she had begun exchanging messages with her victim and another girl on the Internet from about April, but in about the middle of May, something had upset her. She had also reportedly been upset by notes that were being circulated.
When questioned by police, the 11-year-old reportedly said there was no other trouble between her and Satomi besides the notes and Internet messages. She reportedly said she had not told anyone about the way she was feeling.
Lawyers said the girl had clearly answered questions directed at her and that there appeared to be no need for a psychiatric examination. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 3, 2004)

Girl killed classmate because she called her 'pretentious

2004.06.04

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An 11-year-old girl who fatally slashed her classmate said she decided to attack the girl after she called her "pretentious" on an Internet homepage.
Both the 12-year-old victim, Satomi Mitarai, and the attacker had opened their own homepages and apparently exchanged messages with each other before the shocking incident at Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on June 1.
Officers investigating the background of the fatal slashing said that Satomi called the girl "burikko" in Japanese on a homepage in late May.
During a school gymnastic meet on May 30, the attacker called Satomi to a corner on the schoolyard, said local and police sources.
The two girls reportedly argued about what they had called each other on their home pages.
At around the same time in late May, someone hacked Satomi's homepage. The 11-year-old girl has admitted she was responsible.
"I did it out of revenge for the displeasure I felt," officers quoted the attacker as saying.
School sources said that the girl and Satomi used to be close friends. Both of them were good at painting and, together with another close friend, they often drew animation characters during lunch breaks.
"We thought that the three girls were good friends," a classmate said. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 4, 2004)

School killer decided to murder girl after she called her "heavy"

2004.06.04

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An elementary school girl in custody for fatally slashing a classmate turned against her former friend after the victim and other classmates told her she was "heavy," prefectural police said Friday.
Investigators suspect that the simple word caused the girl, whose name is being withheld under the Juvenile Law, to harbor a grudge against the victim and eventually kill her.
In late May, the 11-year-old girl and the victim, 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai, as well as some other classmates, were riding on each other's backs while they were playing at a public elementary school in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, investigators said.
At the time, Satomi and other classmates told the girl that she was "heavy." The girl interpreted the word as meaning that she was fat, and demanded Satomi apologize.
However, Satomi reacted by placing the message, "You are pretentious," on the killer's homepage. The attacker retaliated by hacking into Satomi's site and partially rewrote its contents.
"I got angry at her after she called me 'pretentious' in a message she wrote on my homepage. I then decided to kill her," she was quoted as telling investigators.
Eyewitnesses reported having spotted the girl and Satomi arguing with each other during a school athletic meet on May 30, two days before the murder. Investigators suspect that they were arguing over Satomi calling the girl "heavy."
Classmates said the killer had been worried about her weight even though she is of medium height and build. She had told friends that she was trying hard to reduce her weight. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 4, 2004)

Schoolgirl slayer has 'Battle Royale' obsession

2004.06.05

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- Sasebo's elementary schoolgirl killer was obsessed with "Battle Royale," a story that tells of classmates dumped on a deserted island and forced to kill one another until only one remains, police said Saturday.
The 11-year-old girl currently in the custody of the family court has told the police "I read 'Battle Royale' a lot."
Officers are also convinced the controversial tale, which has been a hit in novel, comic and movie form, inspired the girl's decision to kill her classmate, 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai.
"It's probably had some influence," a high-ranking Nagasaki Prefectural Police officer told the Mainichi.
Investigators from the Sasebo Branch of the Nagasaki Family Court continue questioning the girl about the vicious June 1 slaying.
In the movie version of "Battle Royale" a scene featuring two junior high schoolgirls who were usually on bad terms involves one of the girls making the other feel at ease, then creeping up and grabbing her from behind and killing her by slicing through her artery with a sickle.
In the comic, two schoolgirls cuddle until one fatally slashes the other using a sickle slashed across the back of the neck.
On June 1, the killer dragged Satomi into a room and sat her down. She used one hand to hold Satomi's face, then killed her by slicing into her neck from behind with a paper cutter, police said.
Last month, the killer uploaded a story on her web site entitled "Battle Royale Sasayaki (Whisper)." The story she wrote was about classmates who killed each other, mimicking the "Battle Royale" tale.
One of those who read the schoolgirl killer's tale and left a message on the site said they "had never seen anybody so in love with the 'Battle Royale' story."
About one month before the killing, the girl borrowed "Battle Royale 2" from a local video store. The sequel to the major hit is forbidden to be lent out to those under 15, so the girl used her older sister's card to borrow the movie. She has also borrowed the "Battle Royale" novel from her local library. (Mainichi Shimbun, June 5, 2004)

TV networks ax cutter scenes in wake of Sasebo schoolgirl slaying

2004.06.06

Japanese TV networks have cancelled plans to air shows featuring paper cutters after one was used in the brutal slaying of an elementary schoolgirl in Nagasaki Prefecture earlier this week.
Taxpayer-funded NHK and private networks TBS and Fuji all pulled shows featuring scenes were paper cutters were used violently.
Fuji pulled "Kekkon Sodanin," a drama about a marriage counselor due to air on Friday night because one scene had a character threatening another with a paper cutter. Fuji ran a show about divorce instead.
On Saturday, NHK cancelled the planned rerun of a show that featured a junior high school pupil slashing his own arms with a paper cutter.
Later the same day, TBS decided against showing a drama that featured a crook thrusting a paper cutter at small children.
An 11-year-old girl currently being held by family court officials killed Satomi Mitarai by using a paper cutter to slit her throat at an elementary school in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on June 1. (Mainichi Shimbun, June 6, 2004)

Schoolgirl slayer sought opinions on murder

2004.06.06

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- An elementary schoolgirl who viciously killed a classmate had a fixation with the controversial "Battle Royale" movie that prompted her to question visitors to her website about their views on slaying pals, police said Sunday.
The 11-year-old girl, who cannot be named, ran a questionnaire seeking opinions about whether visitors to her site would be willing to kill their friends.
The girl, who is currently in the custody of family court officials, is believed to have a morbid fixation with "Battle Royale," a hit book, film and manga that tells the story of junior high school classmates forced to kill each other until only one remains.
Investigators into the June 1 killing of 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai, the daughter of a Mainichi journalist, believe "Battle Royale" may have inspired the girl to kill Satomi.
The killer's website questionnaire asked visitors to provide an answer to the question of what they would do if selected to take part in a program that required them to kill or be killed.
Of the 30 answers she received, 25 said they would kill others, four said they would try to hide and only one answered that they would bitterly oppose the scheme.
Visitors also left comments like:KILLING is better than being killed;
IF you don't kill, you'll be killed; and,
IT would be better to die trying to save a friend while seeking their trust than to kill them.
Satomi's killing also mimicked a scene in the book and movie versions of "Battle Royale." (Mainichi Shimbun, June 6, 2004)

Finance Minister calls arson 'girly,' throat-cutting 'manly'

2004.06.06

OKAYAMA -- Another Cabinet minister has put his foot in his mouth over the vicious Sasebo elementary schoolgirl slaying, this time Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who called arson "girly" and slitting the throat "manly."
Ironically, Tanigaki's comments made during a meeting of backers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party came as he spoke out on behalf of State Minister for Disaster Prevention Kiichi Inoue.
On Friday, Inoue said that an 11-year-old schoolgirl's brutal, throat-slashing murder of a classmate was indicative of how women had become more "lively" participants in Japanese society.
Tanigaki's attempts to lighten the critical attacks on Inoue, however, were pointless as he put himself in hot water.
"When I was young," Tanigaki told the gathering of LDP followers, "arson was a women's crime. Men did it too, but it was pretty much a girly crime. Women would use paper cutters to slash throats, but that was overwhelmingly a crime committed by adult men."
When questioned directly about Inoue's comments, Tanigaki stood by his fellow Cabinet minister.
"It would have been unthinkable in the past for an elementary schoolgirl to have done something like this (Sasebo slaying). Society, children, relations between the sexes all change," Tanigaki said. "I don't know whether it was all right to say something like 'women have gotten stronger,' but I guess the State Minister for Disaster Prevention was trying to say something along the lines of how much society has changed." (Mainichi Shimbun, June 6, 2004)

Teacher of slain schoolgirl may be suffering serious PTSD

2004.06.07

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- The homeroom teacher of an elementary school girl who was slain by a classmate last week may be suffering from a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sources close to the school said Monday.
"His symptoms are extremely serious. He may need to be hospitalized," one of the sources told the Mainichi.
The teacher, whose name is being withheld, showed up to school Monday but was unable to go to his classroom.
He has been in a state of depression since the incident because he was shocked that a child belonging to his class fatally slashed a classmate and he saw the victim in a pool of blood at the school.
Satomi Mitarai, 12, a sixth-year girl at a Sasebo municipal elementary school, was fatally slashed last Tuesday by an 11-year-old classmate at the school, police said. The name of the killer is being withheld under the Juvenile Law. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 7, 2004)

Father of slashing victim 'unable to function normally' says lawyer

2004.06.07

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- The mental suffering of the father of a 12-year-old girl who was slashed to death with a paper cutter by one of her elementary school classmates has rendered him unable to function normally in his daily life, the man's lawyer said Monday.
"I think he is suffering from sleep deprivation," Lawyer Mitsuhide Yahiro, who works for the victim's father, Kyoji Mitarai, told a press conference.
Mitarai, 45, chief of the Mainichi Shimbun Sasebo Bureau, was scheduled to speak to reporters Monday evening, but the lawyer and doctors prevented him from doing so.
Instead of talking with reporters, widower Mitarai released a statement describing his feelings for his late daughter, Satomi.
The statement began with an address to the girl: "Sacchan, where are you now?"It went on to ask the daughter about her mother who died about three years ago. "Have you already met up with your mother?"
Later in the statement, Mitarai recalled their trip to Tokyo Disneyland and mentioned that Satomi was good at making friends.
But Mitarai went on to say that he didn't completely comprehend what had happened.
"I don't understand why you aren't here," it said. "My name and your name are being mentioned in newspapers and television news reports. I don't understand why."
Meanwhile, the parents of the girl believed to have killed Mitarai's daughter at school have also expressed their shock over the incident, sources close to the couple said.
They have rarely left their home since the day of the slashing. The sources said that the father of the suspected killer wanted to meet with Mitarai and offer an apology in place of his daughter.
Yahiro quoted Mitarai as saying that he was not in a condition to meet with the parents of the attacker. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 7, 2004)

Paramedic who saw slain schoolgirl suffering from stress

2004.06.08

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- A paramedic who saw the elementary school girl who was fatally slashed by a classmate early this month is suffering from what is believed to be stress from seeing the gruesome sight, the local fire department said Tuesday.
The paramedic is suffering from such stress apparently because he has a daughter about the same age as the victim, 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai, fire department officials said. He has regularly received counseling since the incident.
It is quite rare that paramedics show symptoms of stress as they often see gruesome scenes. Some cases of stress were reported following the Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe and surrounding areas in January 1995.
Three paramedics rushed to Sasebo Municipal Okubo Elementary School in Nagasaki Prefecture at around 12:45 p.m. on June 1 after being alerted by a school official following the stabbing, Sasebo Fire Department officials said.
They spotted the victim lying in a pool of blood in a third-floor classroom and decided not to rush her to hospital because she was already dead.
The stressed paramedic, who is in his 40s, complained that he had been greatly shocked following the incident. "I have a daughter who is almost the same age as the victim, and was shocked by the incident. I can't talk to my family right now," he was quoted as saying.
He also feels a sense of guilt after the fire station he belongs to received a number of e-mails criticizing it for not transporting the victim to hospital. This has worsened his condition, officials said. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 8, 2004)

Officials describe heroics of teacher during deadly school attack

2004.06.08

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- The teacher in charge when an 11-year-old girl slashed her classmate to death with a box cutter took the murder weapon from the attacker and tried to save the victim, it was revealed Tuesday.
After attacking her 12-year-old victim during lunch break on June 1, the girl returned to her classroom, her trousers stained with blood.
The unnamed teacher at the elementary school in Sasebo then grabbed the paper cutter used in the attack from the girl and rushed to the study room where the attack had occurred.
At that time, the teacher directed other students to stay away from the scene, according to Sasebo Municipal Board of Education officials.
The teacher and two other teachers remained with the victim in the study room taking her pulse until paramedics arrived, the officials added.
In a related development, the Sasebo branch of the Nagasaki Family Court on Tuesday decided to launch a juvenile trial for the alleged killer and officials will discuss how to handle the girl.
Lawyers working on behalf of the girl plan to ask the court to conduct a psychiatric test on her. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 8, 2004)

Schoolgirl killer frequented violent Internet sites

2004.06.09

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- Sasebo's schoolgirl killer frequented Internet sites dedicated to violence and horror, shocked investigators have learned.
The 11-year-old girl, who cannot be identified under law, diligently book marked the sites and kept them in pristine order.
Investigators fear the girl who slit the throat of 12-year-old Satomi Mitarai may have been driven to violence by the horrific scenes she frequently accessed through cyberspace.
She has already displayed an obsession for "Battle Royale," a story about school children forced to hunt and kill each other until only one remains alive, and slew Satomi in a manner bearing a frightening resemblance to the work.
Nagasaki Prefectural Police seized the girl's access records and checked the sites she had been viewing.
Records of her time online show the sites she accessed frequently dealt with violence and murder, many of which she had book marked to easily access them for multiple visits.
Her own site included a questionnaire influenced by "Battle Royale," asking people how they would react if put in a situation where they were forced to kill or be killed.
All the members of the girl's family had access to the computer, but none of her relatives were aware that the killer had book marked the sites dedicated to violence. She was also visiting the sites frequently without their knowledge. (Mainichi Shimbun, June 9, 2004)

Psychiatric tests sought for 11-year-old murderer

2004.06.10

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- A lawyer working for an 11-year-old girl who fatally stabbed her classmate will ask the court to conduct psychiatric tests on her, he said.
Lawyer Mitsuo Sako said after seeing the girl at a juvenile office Wednesday that she was crying all through the meeting.
However, he said that she has not shown any abnormal emotion. "She was just listening to me," Sako said in Sasebo.
The lawyer then suggested the need for a psychiatric test by saying that he didn't understand the gap between the girl's composure and the cruel nature of her stabbing."I cannot explain the abnormal nature of her crime," he said.
The lawyer added that she spent time meeting with family court investigators and reading.
Meanwhile, investigators working on the case said that the girl repeatedly slashed the neck of her victim and stayed at the scene to confirm her death.
Police officers investigating the shocking crime said that the girl made the 12-year-old victim, Satomi Mitarai, sit on a chair in a study room at their elementary school on June 1.
While arguing with the victim over notes she had written on a Web site, she stabbed the girl's neck from behind and did it again and again believing the first cut was not successful, the investigators said.
After Satomi collapsed on the floor, the killer stayed with her. "I pondered whether she was really dead or not," they quoted the girl as saying.
The teacher in charge of the girls' class grabbed the shaft of the paper cutter the girl used when she came back to her classroom bloodstained. Police later found the blade of the weapon in the study room. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 10, 2004)

Schoolgirl slayer admits setting up execution-style killing

2004.06.13

SASEBO, Nagasaki -- Sasebo's schoolgirl slayer has admitted to investigators she spent considerable time planning the June 1 killing of her sixth grade classmate, Satomi Mitarai, police said Sunday.
"I sat her down because I wanted to slit her throat. I always intended to kill her," the 11-year-old girl currently in custody told the police.
The girl, who fatally slashed Satomi's neck with a paper cutter in a room at their Sasebo elementary school, has admitted she chose the location because nobody would be able to see what she was doing.
Police said the girl, who cannot be named, called Satomi as they were preparing to dish out school lunches and asked if she could have a word in private.
She took Satomi to a room on the third floor of the school building, drew the curtains and sat 12-year-old Satomi down on a chair.
The pair then argued briefly about writings on their homepages. The girl then moved behind Satomi, used one hand to cover her victim's eyes and the other to unleash the deadly strokes with the paper cutter that killed her classmate.
The girl has since told investigators she had planned to kill Satomi four days earlier, but had been unable to do so. She also admitted to having considered three different ways of killing Satomi, including an attack with an ice-pick. (Mainichi Shimbun, June 13, 2004)

Killing puts 'Battle Royale' DVD release on hold

2004.06.16

DVD sales of a version of the controversial "Battle Royale" movies have been put on hold following a fatal stabbing in Nagasaki Prefecture in which an 11-year-old girl murdered her classmate, it has been learned.
Toei Video had planned to release "Battle Royale II Special Edition Revenge" in September, but the firm said it had now decided to extend the date for releasing the film.
"In consideration of the current environment, we decided to put off its release until later," a company official said.
The 11-year-old schoolgirl killer from Sasebo, Nagasaki, was reportedly obsessed with "Battle Royale," a story that tells of classmates dumped on a deserted island and forced to kill one another until only one remains.
About one month before the June 1 killing, the girl borrowed "Battle Royale II," which was released in July last year, from a local video store.
The special edition contains scenes that have not been released previously.
The 11-year-old girl, who remains in custody, killed her 12-year-old classmate, Satomi Mitarai, using a paper cutter. Satomi was the daughter of Koji Mitarai, chief of the Mainichi Shimbun Sasebo Bureau. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 16, 2004)