CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police believe a former driver for the managing director of a Japanese language school used a wine bottle to fatally assault the director in Sakura City last month, reports TBS News (Dec. 19).
On Wednesday, police sent Kazuhiko Takano, 54, to prosecutors over the fatal assault of Jiro Iwai, 75, inside the residence of the victim, located on the 29th floor of a building in the Yukarigaoka area, sometime between November 23 and 25.
The suspect also stole 200,000 yen in cash, police said previously.
Upon his arrest, Takano, who has been accused of robbery and murder, denied the allegations. “I do not clearly recall [the matter],” the suspect was quoted.
In the latest development, police have revealed that security camera footage taken inside an elevator of the building shows a person believed to be Takano carrying a wine bottle in a bag.
Police later found a wine bottle in the building’s garbage that had Takano’s fingerprints on it. In examining the bottle and the scars on the face of Iwai, police suspect that it was the murder weapon.
Iwai was the managing director of the International School of Funabashi, which has about 600 students. Takano is believed to have regularly visited the residence. With Iwai suffering from a physical disability, Takano was employed as his driver between October of last year and March.
On the afternoon of November 25, a female employee of the school entered the residence of Iwai and found him collapsed and bleeding from the head. The female employee entered the residence after the director dropped out of contact for an extended period.
