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Ex-employee at Nakano senior citizens’ home accused of suffocating male resident

Hisashi Minakawa
Hisashi Minakawa (TBS News)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a former male employee at a senior citizens’ home in Nakano Ward over the killing of a resident earlier this year, reports Jiji Press (Nov. 14).

In the early morning hours of August 22, Hisashi Minakawa, 25, allegedly blocked the mouth and nose of Kan Fujisawa, 83, while putting him in a bath filled with water at Nichii Home Saginomiya in suffocating him to death.

Minakawa, who has been accused of murder, told police that he became upset after the victim had repeatedly soiled his bed. “I thought that I would kill him,” the suspect told police in admitting to the allegations.

On the day of the incident, Minakawa alone provided assistance to Fujisawa in his taking of a bath. During questioning, he said that he found Fujisawa dead after he took care of an emergency call. However, there was no record of such a call, police said.

Minakawa resigned from his post in September.

“We will strive to raise employee training and strengthen safety management systems so that such a situation never occurs again,” a representative of the management company of Nichii Home Saginomiya was quoted.