Man in custody for dumping woman’s corpse to also be accused of rape

tokyoreporter.com -- Jan 06

A 29-year-old man in custody for allegedly dumping the body of a woman in Tochigi Prefecture last year is expected to also be accused of raping the victim, police have revealed, reports TBS News (Jan. 6).

On Wednesday, police plan to accuse Yoshito Sato, a nursery school teacher, of sexually assaulting Saori Tomitsuka, a 35-year-old contract employee, last year.

“I thought it was fine to rape her if I killed her,” Sato was quoted by police.

“I strangled her with a rope in killing her”

Last month, police accused Sato of dumping the body of Tomitsuka on the grounds of a villa in the town of Nasu.

“I broke into [her] residence to steal money,” Sato told police previously. “When she resisted, I strangled her with a rope in killing her.”

The cause of death of Tomitsuka was suffocation caused by pressure applied to the neck, police said previously.

Tomitsuka, who lived in Toshima Ward in the capital, went missing on September 24. Sato lives about 600 meters from her residence.

Police investigating her disappearance found her mobile telephone near her residence. An examination of security camera footage by police showed a person believed to be Sato following Tomitsuka around the time she disappeared.

On December 5, police took Sato in for voluntary questioning. During the session, he divulged the location of her body.

Police later found her unclothed body on the property of the villa. It is believed that Sato used his vehicle to transport Tomitsuka’s body to Nasu after he killed her.

Jan 06 (ANNnewsCH) - 栃木県の別荘地に35歳の女性の遺体を遺棄したとして男が逮捕された事件で、警視庁はこの男について女性を乱暴して殺害した疑いなどで再逮捕しました。  元保育士の佐藤喜人容疑者(29)は去年9月、東京・豊島区のアパートに侵入し、この部屋に住む会社員の女性に乱暴したうえ首を絞めて殺害し、鍵などを奪った疑いが持たれています。  佐藤容疑者は女性の遺体を栃木県那須町の別荘地に遺棄したとして逮捕・起訴されています。  警視庁によりますと、女性の自宅に残っていた遺留物が佐藤容疑者のDNA型と一致したということです。  佐藤容疑者はこれまでに「乱暴をしてひもで首を絞めた」と供述していましたが、現在は「黙秘します」と話しているということです。