Tatsuya Ichihashi was finally arrested at a ferry port in Osaka. An alert traveler at the port contacted authorities to tell them a person matching Ichihashi’s description was preparing to take a ferry bound for Okinawa. When police arrived on the scene, he admitted who he was without a struggle.
Ichihashi had been on the run for 2 years following the murder of English teacher Lindsay Hawker. He ran out of his apartment in bare feet when police came to interview him about her disappearance. Police found Hawker’s body in an old bathtub full of sand on his apartment’s veranda. Police were criticized for no giving chase and letting the suspect get away.
His parents held a press conference calling his arrest, “His first step toward atonement,” and “We were hoping he would be arrested because his continuing to run will just lead to more misery for him.”
Commentary:
The parents need a reality check, and I hope that the police investigate them for aiding and abetting his escape. If they truly had no contact with him, and did not bankroll or use their influence to help them get away then my heart goes out to them for all their son has brought on them. However, in their interview they talk a lot like they expect him to do the time and then get out and live a normal happy life.
As I mentioned in my previous article about Tatsuya Ichihashi’s plastic surgery, many people in Japan think that a rich doctor’s son will never get the death penalty or a strict punishment “just for killing a foreigner”.
I hope we see some justice.
Update:
I also just saw the Tatsuya Ichihashi arrest story posted on the Big in Japan site out of Okinawa.
So what do you think the sentence, or indeed the final charge will be for this? Think they have enough evidence for a murder charge, or will it just be “abandoning a body”?
I watched the parents’ press conference last night and that thing was scary to watch. They showed absolutely no emotions at all and the “atonement” comment did seem as if they saw it as just a minor indiscretion.
This is a tough one. I think he could use his parents’ money and influence in the medical community to go for a mental defense and be out quickly. They will definitely argue that he was not the murderer or that it was an accident (this of course won’t account for mutilation of the body and fleeing). There is a long history of people who killed foreigners getting out of jail quickly here in Japan.
Anyway, I don’t think anyone who is concerned with this case will be happy with the verdict other than his parents.
What do you think Dave? Anybody else?