Suspect admits to stabbing pop idol after his gift, advances rejected

TOKYO —

A man under arrest for stabbing a woman repeatedly has told police that the attack in western Tokyo was sparked when the victim rejected a gift from him, investigative sources said Sunday.

Tomohiro Iwazaki, a 27-year-old man, stabbed Mayu Tomita, a 20-year-old college student, more than 20 times including in the neck, chest, arms and back, shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday in Koganei. The assault came shortly before Tomita was due to take the stage to perform with other women in an idol event.

Iwazaki, who was arrested at the site, told police, “I sent a gift (to Tomita) but it was returned. I asked her why but she gave an evasive answer, so I became mad and stabbed her numerous times.”

Iwazaki also told the police that he intended to kill her and carried a knife for that purpose, indicating it was a premeditated assault.

Tomita has been appearing in pop idol shows and television programs for children, and the police suspect Iwazaki is a fan of hers.

According to the police, the suspect intercepted Tomita in hopes of talking to her at JR Musashi-Koganei Station before the assault occurred.

Security camera footage shows a man appearing to be Iwazaki following Tomita from the station to the site of the crime.

Tomita, who remains in hospital in a critical condition, had earlier visited a police station near her home in Musashino and asked them to stop Iwazaki from harassing her online via social networking sites such as twitter.

Although Tomita told the police Iwazaki’s name and address on May 9, the police did not contact him, saying it was necessary to confirm that the messages were actually written by him, the sources said.

Police also failed to take the case to a unit tasked with investigating stalking on the grounds that the messages did not imply an immediate threat of assault.

Learning from Tomita on Friday that she planned to appear at an idol event the following day, officers at the Musashino police station asked the police in Koganei to respond if they receive an emergency call from her.

However, the Koganei police station did not send an officer to the idol event as they did not receive that emergency call from Tomita.

The Metropolitan Police Department is now investigating whether the local police station handled the incident appropriately.

Police have seen public outcry over their lax response to stalking cases in the past, some of which resulted in deaths of the stalking targets despite them having notified authorities.