HOKKAIDO (TR) – Hokkaido Prefectural Police are searching for a 77-year-old man indicted for attempted murder after he disappeared from a hospital where he was being treated during a temporary release from custody, investigative sources revealed on Monday, reports the Chugoku Shimbun (Aug. 17).
Kiyoshi Okawa, an unemployed resident of Hakodate City, is accused of striking his wife, who is in her 70s, in the head multiple times with a hammer at their shared home.
According to the indictment, the victim sustained severe head injuries that required approximately one month of recovery time.
Officers from the Hakodate Central Police Station originally arrested Okawa on June 16 on suspicion of attempted murder. The Hakodate District Public Prosecutors Office formally indicted him on the charge on July 17.
Following his indictment, Okawa’s detention was temporarily suspended due to an illness, allowing him to be admitted to a local hospital for medical treatment. However, authorities recently discovered he had vanished from the medical facility, prompting the Hokkaido police to launch a manhunt.
Under the Japanese judicial system, the execution of detention can be temporarily suspended to allow a defendant to be released for specific, urgent reasons, such as receiving vital medical care or attending to a critically ill relative.
