Dec 12 (Japan Times) - A former top bureaucrat at the farm ministry admitted Wednesday to killing his socially reclusive son, during the first day of his high-profile trial in Tokyo.
Hideaki Kumazawa, 76, who once served as vice minister at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, is on trial for stabbing his 44-year-old son, Eiichiro, in the neck multiple times at around 3:15 p.m. on June 1, causing his death from massive blood loss, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said the defendant feared for his own safety before deciding to kill his son, who had displayed violent behavior in the family home ever since he was bullied at a famous private junior high school.
After Eiichiro graduated from the school, he moved into a home of his own in the Mejiro area of Tokyo. He had moved back into his parents’ home in the capital’s Nerima Ward a week before the incident, prosecutors said.
A day after returning to his parents’ home, Eiichiro assaulted his father for bringing up the issue of some garbage left at the Mejiro residence. After the incident, Kumazawa and his wife remained exclusively on the second floor of their home, where they had moved.
The defendant decided to kill his son and left a note saying, “I think there is no other way,†prosecutors said. After the incident, he called police to report the stabbing.
The defense team said Wednesday that Eiichiro had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and Asperger’s syndrome, adding that the defendant had “supported and cared for his eldest son desperately.â€
Source: ANNnewsCH
