An 82-year-old man went on trial this week, charged with killing his 79-year-old wife, who was in a wheelchair, by pushing her into the sea last year.
Prosecutors told the Odawara branch of the Yokohama District Court that Hiroshi Fujiwara drove his wife Teruko to a pier in Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, at around 5:30 p.m. on Nov 2, Kyodo News reported. He put Teruko, who was disabled, into her wheelchair, and pushed her along the pier for a few minutes before tipping the chair into the sea.
Fujiwara then drove to his eldest son’s home and told him what he had done. The son called police.
A fisherman also called 110 after seeing a body floating in the water.
Fujiwara told the court he was worn out from looking after her who had needed to use a wheelchair for the past 40 years.
The family had been discussing putting Teruko into a nursing home but Fujiwara told the court he did not want that. He also said he had thought of killing himself at the same time so that he could die together with his wife.
A verdict will be handed down in the lay judge trial on July 18. Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year sentence.
© Japan Today
22 Comments
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kurisupisu
How many more deaths are coming due to a system that is failing the elderly Japanese?
There aren’t the number of people available to adequately aid the elderly in Japan and there won’t be unless Japan becomes more open to immigrants
In the meantime we can expect more heart rending tales such as this one
falseflagsteve
This saddens me immensely. How many more stories like this will he read about.
obladi
Not the best way to go, for sure
JJ W
Drowning your disabled wife who can't swim seems cruelly efficient and seven years for murder is too lenient.
"I thought of killing myself too" sounds like a Hail Mary attempt to euphemize the murder as a murder-suicide attempt that (quite conveniently) ended up working out for him alone.
NornIronManYe0
rot in prison. ⚰️
sir_bentley28
The old taking care of the old always results in something like this!
He was offered help, but refused it! I wonder if his reason for refusing the helpwas a matter of "Japanese pride", the cost or both?
zulander
Incredibly sad.
Obviously killing is “wrong”, however cases like these are incredibly difficult…. For all we know she may have asked him to… even so, incredibly sorrowful
Eastman
sure PM dont read these news or at lest never pays attention to situation of own people.
since his priorities are different...
Toshihiro
This is just too sad to even imagine. I don't want to know what pushed him to take his wife out life that, but all I know is there will be a place in hell for this guy. RIP wife
oldman_13
Absolutely agree. The guy killed his wife in the cruelest way, pushing her into the water like an animal knowing she could not swim. I can only imagine the terror and pain of her final minutes as she painfully drowned. This wasn't even a case where she was terminally ill with unbearable pain, and the husband decides to give her a fatal dose of pills. And his excuse was that he was tired of taking care of her. Well, his family wanted to put her in a nursing home but he refused. How selfish is that? He was too tired to take care of her, yet he didn't want the professional help that would have properly cared for her. And I agree with his pitiful statement about how he wanted to kill himself- I doubt it. Rest assured if I truly loved someone, the last thing I would think is pushing her into the sea because I was too tired to take care of her. Seven years is indeed too short.
fishy
Not defending what happened as a result however I am sad to see all the ill
comments towards him.
I've read that this man took care of his paralyzed wife for the past 40
years and he told his family he wanted to be the one to take care of her
until the end.
Japanese news said that the idea of sending her to a facility was not
acceptable to him, he was the one who did everything for her for 40 long
years and the connection they had and the trust she had for him would be
replaceable.
Again, the result was extremely sad, but the comment like "rot in prison",
"place in hell for this guy" - - I mean, really? Guys... really?
fishy
would 'not' be replaceable.
tora
JT may want to consider publishing a monthly aggregate story (with a warning). There stories are appearing far too often now and as others said, they will only increase. It gets to the point where one has to consider if it is worth even publishing them. What is the purpose?
Garthgoyle
Sad story.
JJ W
Little good that "trust" did for her seeing how he betrayed her in the end and took her life without her consent
The 40 years of caretaking doesn't mitigate the crime it makes the betrayal way worse
Imagine drowning without being able to move your legs, that's excruciatingly painful. Pretty sure that was not her "method of choice" even if she were secretly suicidal
Mark
He should have joined her in the briny at least!
JJ W
Fujiwara: "I really regret that I killed Teruko without consulting her"
(according to the Mainichi report)
That should put that theory to rest, dude's a selfish murderer
TokyoLiving
Utterly selfish..
Nayel
Every one is judging the guy for kiling his disable wife but,
no one and i mean no one will never understand what was going on in this guy s mind.
my heart aches for both of them .
kaimycahl
Sad on both ends~
JRO
Although different circumstances I know the pain of having to care for your wife, doing that for 40 years is crazy. Not sure how he figured drowning her was the most humane way to put her to rest though, one of the worst ways to die.
Jonathan Prin
He may have had a nervous breakdown.
He is just a human being. His wife was disabled for 40 years. He was for a few minutes hours, so why be so mean while not trying to understand all the challenges he met during those 40 years.
And he is 82. Be a bit respectful.
Many seem here he would commit suicide with his wife, but he was the still fit person, not his wife. Nobody knows how disabled she was.