Man Accused Of Murdering Homeless Woman Kills Himself While Out On Bail

A man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 64-year-old homeless woman in 2020 allegedly killed himself while he was out on bail in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, April 8.

The body of Kazuhito Yoshida, 48, was found lying in a pool of blood on the street below an apartment building near his home on Friday morning. According to the investigating officers, Yoshida reportedly jumped to his death from the apartment building. Even though witnesses immediately rushed him to a hospital for treatment, the hospital authorities declared him dead upon arrival, Japan Today reported.

Yoshida, who was out on bail, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of killing 64-year-old Misako Obayashi, a homeless woman, while she sat on a bench at a bus stop in Shibuya Ward at around 4 a.m. on Nov 16, 2020. A passerby reportedly found Obayashi collapsed on the ground, bleeding from a head injury, near an intersection about 400 meters from Sasazuka Station at 5 a.m. that day.

However, several days after Obayashi's death, on Nov. 21, 2020, Yoshida showed up with his mother at a police station and told police officers that he had attacked the woman. When the officers checked surveillance cameras in the area, they found footage that showed a man hitting Obayashi, who appeared to be asleep, with a shopping bag.

Following this, Yoshida was arrested and indicted in December 2020. About 15 months later, he was released on bail in March 2022, ahead of his trial. The trial was scheduled to begin on May 17.

According to Yoshida’s relatives, Yoshi had been behaving indifferently and had been unstable recently. The relatives stated that Yoshida was reportedly concerned about the trial and the trouble it would cause them.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a 20-year-old man reportedly killed himself out of depression after he was taken to a police station in connection with a case in West Delhi, India on Feb. 13, Latin Times reported.

The youth, identified only as Suraj, reportedly worked at a cloth market. However, he was called to the police station in Mayapuri, West Delhi on Feb. 13 to help the police in identifying a suspect in a mobile phone snatching case reported on Jan. 3. Police officers called Suraj to the station as their investigation revealed that the user of the stolen phone was in contact with Suraj.

After identifying the accused, Suraj left the police station and went home. Later in the evening, Suraj recorded a video on his device saying that he had slumped into a deep depression as he couldn’t bear the humiliation his family would face after they come to know that he was called to the police station. After recording the video, Suraj took his own life by hanging himself.