OSAKA (TR) – A man in custody over the stabbing of three male youths, one fatally, in Osaka City late Saturday has said that he had “no intent to kill,” police said, according to the Asahi Shimbun (Feb. 15).
At around 11:50 p.m., Ryoga Iwazaki, 21, is alleged to have used a knife to repeatedly stab Takanosuke Kamata, 17, a resident of Nara Prefecture, in the chest at a commercial building near the Dotonbori River in Chuo Ward.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of murder, he told police, “I had no intent to kill. I initially intended to intimidate [Kamata] with the knife, but as he approached him I stabbed him in the chest.”
Iwazaki is also believed to have stabbed two other youths, also 17, in the upper body. They were both taken to a hospital. One of the two victims is in critical condition, police said previously.
After the incident, Iwazaki fled the scene with the knife. At around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, police apprehended the suspect as he walked with the knife on a street about 1.5 kilometers from the crime scene.
According to police, there were seven or eight men and women at the scene at the time of the incident. Based on accounts from witnesses, Iwasaki, who had been warned by the victims about harassing a woman, pulled out the knife and attacked them.
The details of the incident are under investigation.
