Society

Man suspected of killing university student with thallium

Mar 05 (Japan Today) - Osaka police have arrested a man suspected in the poisoning death of a university student in Kyoto in October last year and sent him to prosecutors on Saturday for the alleged murder.

The police allege that Kazuki Miyamoto, 37, killed Hinako Hamano, a 21-year-old student of Ritsumeikan University, by getting her to ingest a lethal amount of thallium, a highly toxic substance that was once widely used as rat poison.

Miyamoto has refused to speak since his arrest Friday, but before that, he voluntarily answered questions, telling police that when the two were together at her home in the city, he had "bought some medicine at a drugstore and gave it to her as she wasn't feeling well," according to an investigative source.

The man, who is in the real estate rental business, and the woman had met through her part-time job, according to investigative sources.

On Oct 11, the two dined out in Kyoto before going to Hamano's home to drink. Once there, her health suddenly deteriorated, and she began having severe fits of coughing, Miyamoto was quoted as telling investigators earlier.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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