Nara: Man killed disabled 10-year-old daughter ‘to escape this life’

Early on Saturday, police found Kazuhiko Tokutani, a cook, soaked with water inside his vehicle, which was parked in a parking lot.

Later that same morning, police found his daughter Nanako, a fourth-year elementary school student, floating on the surface of the lake at the dam. She was later confirmed dead.

Upon his arrest on suspicion of abduction, Tokutani admitted to the allegations.

“After I got into a fight with my father, I considered death,” Tokutani told the Yoshino Police Station. “Also, my daughter’s disability is a burden to my wife. In order to escape to this life, I wanted to die together with my daughter.”

Tokutani, a resident of Uda City, is a cook at his father’s restaurant. In addition to a mental disability, Nanako had a problem with one of her legs, police said.

At around 2:50 p.m. on Friday, the suspect allegedly abducted Nanako from her special needs school. “I’m going to take her to see her grandmother,” Tokutani told a teacher.

That night, Tokutani’s wife lodged a report with a koban police box. Representatives of the school also began a search for the suspect.

Tokutani said that he had also planned to take his life. “I embraced [my daughter] and entered the water,” he said. “But when she started to struggle in the water, it was only me who emerged [from the lake].”

“There was nothing unusual”

The Nara Prefectural Board of Education said that there were no signs of trouble before the incident.

“There is no problem with a father who lives with [a student] coming to pick them up,” said superintendent of education Ikuhiro Yoshida. “As for suspect Tokutani and his daughter, there was nothing unusual [about them beforehand], and the homeroom teacher did not observe [anything out of the ordinary].”

Police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of murder.

Source: ANNnewsCH