IBARAKI (TR) – Ibaraki Prefectural Police have arrested a 63-year-old man for allegedly abducting a female acquaintance for the purpose of marring her, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 3).
On Monday morning, Hitoshi Sugiyama arrived at the residence of the woman, 21, in the town of Yachiyo and forced her into his vehicle. He then demanded that she marry him.
Officers found Sugiyama, a resident of Shimotsuma City, and the woman in a parking lot for a shopping center in Tsukuba City on Wednesday night.
Early on Thursday, police accused Sugiyama of abduction for the purpose of marriage. “I did it with the intention of marriage,” the suspect was quoted by the Shimotsuma Police Station.
Upon the discovery of the suspect, police took the woman into protective custody.
