TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested one man and five boys in the beating of another male youth at a park in Arakawa Ward after the victim did not show them respect, reports TV Asahi (May 19).
On May 12, Yukiya Terada, a 20-year-old scaffolding worker, and the five boys, aged between 16 and 18, allegedly beat the face of the boy, 15, with their hands. The victim, a first-year high school student, suffered injuries that were expected to take one week to heal.
Terada and the other suspects, who have been charged with assault, admit to the allegations. “He doesn’t greet his seniors,” police quoted Terada, who used the word sempai to describe the elder status of the suspects relative to the victim. “We did it because of his brazen behavior.”
Prior to the crime, the suspects kidnapped the boy. After arrival at the park, the suspects took turns in assaulting the victim, each spending one minute in beating him.
