Japanese police search the mountain area where the victim’s body was found.
Japanese netizens have been horrified by the news that a sixteen year old girl was effectively murdered by lynch mob over messages she sent on the popular smartphone application, LINE.
Since six out of the seven arrested in connection with the crime are still only 16, their identity is protected by the Japanese Juvenile Law, prompting many netizens to call for a change in the penal system.
From Yahoo! Japan:
“We All Assaulted Her Together”: 6 Acquaintances Of 16 Year Old Girl Arrested On Suspicion Of Disposing Of Her Body, Hiroshima Prefecture Police
In the case where an unemployed girl (16) (Higashi ward, Hiroshima) has been arrested on suspicion of illegally disposing of a corpse for having abandoned a female body in the mountains of Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, which is assumed to be her former classmate (16), the prefectural police Kure division investigation team further arrested 6 people who were acquaintances of the girl on July 17.
Those newly arrested are Seto Taihei (21; unemployed) of Bessho, Yurihama, Tottori Prefecture, two 16 year old boys, both of whom live in Yonehama, Tottori Prefecture, and three 16 year old girls, all of whom live in Kure.
According to the investigation team, Seto denies the allegations, “It’s true that I went to the scene, but I didn’t dispose of the corpse”. The remaining five people admit the charges, with some saying that “we all assaulted her together”.
The six arrested suspects were complicit with the girl who was previously arrested, and are suspected of having disposed of a female corpse in the mountains of Tochibaracho, Kure, in late June.
Police say that the six disposed of the corpse at dawn, the woman got into the car with the girls in downtown Hiroshima, and went to the mountains. Seto is assumed to have been the driver of the car.
The girl who was arrested first explained that “We headed for the mountains in the car, and I got out of the car with the victim. I punched, strangled, and murdered her”. However, the girl and the victim did not hold driver’s licenses, and it was revealed that the girl had exchanged messages with acquaintances on the smartphone application LINE, where they had said “We’ll get arrested too”. The participation of the other six people surfaced during the course of the investigation.
Regarding her motive for the crime, the girl testified that “She had been slandering me on LINE”. On July 17, the girl started to talk about “assaulting [the victim] with her friends”. She said that there was also some money trouble between the two. Police are investigating the detailed course of events, with the prospect of pressing charges for murder.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
kou*ok*haya*i*iboy（kou…）さん:
Fucking brats.
But murder is murder. And this is murder by mob.
They should lock ’em up for more than 25 years.
I bet their friend is turning in her grave.
まっちょまん（jap…）さん:
Well, even naughty brats nowadays aren’t so agitated that they’d tear someone apart.
These kids just made a lynch mob for people they didn’t like.┓(￣∇￣;)┏
I mean, for stuff like this let’s just get rid of the Juvenile Law [protects identity of juvenile offenders, even if they are tried as adults].(*´д｀*)
Daice KR（kh_…）さん:
It was clear from the beginning that that several people had done it.
Still, this is seriously chilling news.
vid*o_0*h*8p11*3*0a（vid…）さん:
Before the 16 year old girl turned herself in at the police station, she wrote on LINE “Sorry for betraying you”.
I thought that these words of apology were meant for the 16 year old girl who became the victim, when I realised that she meant “I’m going to turn myself in, sorry” to her accomplices, my anger doubled.
Ultimately, as a reprisal for having bad things said about her by someone who was her friend, they killed her, assaulting her as a group, getting rid of her just as they would rubbish.
After doing such a despicable thing, they’ll be protected by the Juvenile Law, and after a few years they’ll be walking around the streets like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.
Even if the law will forgive them, I never will.
島唄（eii…）さん:
Fucking idiots, ruined their lives while they’re still in their teens.
ズンズンチャーカ（zun…）さん:
To think that they ganged up on just one girl, and assaulted her until she died. No matter what reason they might have had, this is completely unforgiveable.
陳 村民（shi…）さん:
With minors commiting such atrocious crimes as this, shouldn’t we revise the penal code?
iroiroar（iro…）さん:
We don’t know what went on there, but there’s no excuse for murder.
kasumisou§^^§（for…）さん:
So basically she was killed by a lynch mob?
When I think about how frightening this must have been, I can’t help but feel so so sorry for the victim.
hirano（chi…）さん:
This was never the kind of crime a 16 year old could do by herself.
It’s obvious that she had friends with her.
Why didn’t someone stop them?
That’s the pity.
metabonanaochandesutai（nao…）さん:
They should make all of their faces and names public.
はっちー（shh…）さん:
Seems like the bastards had been talking among themselves like “oh we’ll probably get arrested”, but do they really have any regrets or remorse over the fact that they murdered someone? They don’t even touch on the subject of the victim…They have no sense of guilt AT ALL.
Just that they got caught.
And now they’re like “I’ll atone for my crime”?
It’s just barefaced audacity.
モナリザ=オーバードライブ（koi…）さん:
Even though one of them gave herself up, they’re all playing dumb?
I know they’re minors, but I want them to get harsh sentences.
いつも一緒だよ(株)（jrj…）さん:
So apparently they were using LINE even while the police were investigating them.
Writing stuff like “I’m going to take responsibility, OK, off I go!!”
They were just making light of the fact that they’d killed someone.
They won’t apologise to the victim.
Just like Yaguchi.
栄光の大和民族の末裔（yam…）さん:
It’s impossible for these brats to pull the wool over the police’s eyes!
Revise the Juvenile Law immediately!
The law is just not suitable for the way things are now! We’re not living in postwar Japan anymore!
ananyouyou777（u32…）さん:
That message that the girl who turned herself in first sent on LINE, that gave me chills. There wasn’t the slightest bit of guilt over the fact that she’d murdered someone, or any remorse towards the victim. Pretty glib towards her friends too. She’s so fucking full of herself. Bet they think “We’re so frickin’ cool”.
