Man stabbed to death in apartment complex; man arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder

In March, the body of an 85-year-old man who had been stabbed in the upper body was found in a room in an apartment building in Higashiyodogawa Ward, Osaka City.The Osaka Prefectural Police announced on the 15th that they had arrested Tsutomu Shimotaki (47), an unemployed man who lived in the same apartment complex, on suspicion of robbery and murder.

According to the First Investigative Division, the suspect was arrested on suspicion of stabbing Yuji Hashimoto, an unemployed man who lived alone in the apartment, multiple times with a knife and stealing his wristwatch around February 20th in a room in an apartment building in Nishiawaji 1-chome, Higashiyodogawa Ward, Osaka City.

``I stabbed him twice, but I don't remember how many times.I'm sure of the other facts,'' he said, admitting the charges.

Shortly after noon on March 18, a manager who checked on Hashimoto's safety at the request of a male acquaintance found him collapsed.

A woman in her 40s who lives in the same apartment complex said of Hashimoto, ``Every time we met in the hallway or in the elevator, he asked me how I was doing with a smile.It's sad.''

Shimotaki was charged with theft for allegedly stealing a bag in Osaka, and his trial has been going on since June at Osaka District Court.

At his first trial, Shimotaki admitted to charges of theft, alleging that he stole a bag containing mobile batteries and other items from the front basket of a bicycle in the parking lot of a pachinko parlor in Osaka's Yodogawa Ward on March 6.