TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Thursday arrested a 71-year-old man over the alleged murder of his wife at a care facility for the elderly in Machida City last year, reports Jiji Press (June 14).
Police allege that Kenji Seki fatally assaulted his wife, 69-year-old Hatsue, in the head with a blunt object inside her first-floor room at Cocofump Machida Tsurukawa sometime around the morning of September 21.
Seki, who has been accused of murder, denies the allegations. “I didn’t do it,” the suspect was quoted by police during the investigation. However, now he has chosen to remain silent.
At around 6:10 a.m. on September 21, the suspect, who lives in a different room on the same floor of the facility, tipped off police, informing them that his wife was dead.
Officers arriving at the scene found Hatsue, attired in pajamas, with wounds to the head. As well, a screw from a pair of glasses was found in her head, though she did not wear glasses, police said at the time.
An examination of surveillance camera footage did not show anyone entering Hatsue’s room between the night of September 20 and the discovery of her body.
Given that a window in the room that faces outside was open and a chest of drawers showed signs of having been searched, police are investigating the possibility that the suspect attempted to make it appear that a third party entered the room as a part of a burglary.
