KUMAMOTO (TR) – Kumamoto Prefectural Police last week arrested a 49-year-old male employee at a nursing home in Kumamoto City’s Nishi Ward over the fatal assault of a disabled female patient at the facility, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Aug. 10).
At just after midnight on August 7, Kenichiro Kurisaki repeatedly punched Yotsuko Miyamoto, 88, multiple times in the abdomen at the dining hall of Group Home Yushin San-chome.
Miyamoto was found to have lost consciousness about 30 minutes later. The woman was confirmed dead due to hemorrhagic shock brought about by internal bleeding around two hours later, police said.
Medical staff later tipped off police after observing that the body of Miyamoto, who began suffering from dementia about 8 years ago, showed signs of having been beaten. A subsequent examination of surveillance camera footage by police showed Kurisaki striking her in the abdomen.
Three days after the incident, police arrested Kurisaki on suspicion of manslaughter. He generally admits to the allegations, police said.