The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office said on the 29th that it had indicted a 25-year-old former partner of a woman killed in an apartment in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on charges of murder and violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law. The office did not disclose whether he admits or denies the charges.
The suspect, Hibiki Nakamura, a sex industry worker, is accused of killing Rin Zamami, 23, an employee at a part-time job who lived nearby, by cutting her neck and other parts of her body with a kitchen knife with a blade about 17 centimeters long. According to the indictment, the attack took place around 8:30 a.m. on September 30 on the outdoor stairway of the apartment in Kakazu 2-chome, Ginowan.
A prohibition order and a hidden tag
Zamami had consulted the Ginowan police station in December last year, asking that her former partner be made to stop contacting her by phone and through the Line messaging app, according to the prefectural police. In February this year, the prefectural police issued Nakamura a prohibition order against stalking behavior under the Anti-Stalking Act.
On September 20, Zamami reported that a lost-item prevention tag — a small device that can transmit its location — had been attached to her car. The police removed the tag and kept it at the station.
Nakamura told investigators he knew the tag was "with the police," according to the prefectural police, which believes this led to the motive for the killing.
The prohibition order is a civil-style administrative measure that bars a person from repeating stalking behavior; it does not by itself detain or monitor the person subject to it. Police in Japan have been discussing measures including GPS monitoring and treatment requirements for stalkers.