crime

Man arrested for confining woman in his apartment for a week

26 Comments

A 43-year-old man has been arrested for confining a woman in his apartment for a week in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.

According to police, the 22-year-old woman, who is from Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, was found with her hands and feet bound by wire, inside a closet in Junichi Watanabe's apartment, at around 8 a.m. on Monday, Sankei reported.

Police said the woman had been confined in the first-floor apartment for one week. She was rescued after a passerby heard her screaming for help and alerted police.

Watanabe turned himself in at a police "koban" on Monday afternoon.

The woman told police she first met Watanabe on an Internet dating site in January and that they met a few times. But she became uneasy about him and stopped seeing him. Police said Watanabe called the woman, pretending to be one of her friends, and arranged a meeting at 9:30 p.m. on June 1 outside JR Kawaguchi Station. When the woman got there, Watanabe talked her into getting into his car, then he bound her arms, legs and mouth with tape and put a bag over her head, before taking her to his apartment.

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26 Comments
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Police said Watanabe called the woman, pretending to be one of her friends, and arranged a meeting at 9:30 p.m. on June 1 outside JR Kawaguchi Station. When the woman got there, Watanabe talked her into getting into his car,

This doesn't add up. Surely, once she discovered that her friend hadn't turned up and that, coincidentally, the freak had arrived instead, she would have run for the hills - right?

10 ( +15 / -5 )

What horrifying one week. Kinda' makes you wonder what Watanabe did to her on day 1,2,3,4 etc.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Police said Watanabe called the woman, pretending to be one of her friends,

I feel sad for this lady and glad that she was able to get out, but how does one not know the difference between voices of your friends, unless it was a friend of a "different kind" or this guy was one heck of a ventriliquist. There is something more to this story, but I am glad she is rescued.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

" When the woman got there, Watanabe talked her into getting into his car "

Oh boy. At that point, she should have known better.

Anyway, no excuse for the creep.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

What the heck!!! Another person falling victim to a dating website weirdo! I can't work out whether people who use these sites are lonely, desperate or just plain stupid! I'm very glad she was found relatively unharmed, but I have no doubt she would have gone into the missing persons' list in the next few days

I read so many foul acts coming from these websites. Obviously, there is no screening of members and/or protocols for meeting people. It seems like Russian roulette to me.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Why confining to apartment and not tying up? Strange charge. and also (not blaming the victim folks, just saying) she must be a bit daft to get into this situation in the first place. and finally love how he turned himself in.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I can't work out whether people who use these sites are lonely, desperate or just plain stupid!

Considering dating sites are mainstream these days, some are lonely, some are desperate, some are stupid, while the majority are normal people looking for someone.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

What I have taken out of this is that a 43 year-old man can still attract a 22 year-old woman on dating sites.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

What I have taken out of this is that a 43 year-old man can still attract a 22 year-old woman on dating sites.

I don't know about dating sites in particular, but my friend is around that age and has no troubles meeting girls in their early 20s. Japanese girls in general don't seem to have hangups about age differences like that.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

And this guy seemed to go about the whole process with ease so I wouldn't be surprised if he has done this or worse to women in the past.

She stopped seeing him because of his demeanor but what made her get into the car with him? Him showing up instead of the friend would have been the warning bells to run away or go to the police.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Sociopaths can be very charismatic and good at manipulating people. It looks like this man was able to take advantage of the insecurities of at least one other person. I'm so glad she was rescued before worse happened.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

she would have run for the hills - right?

She did knew the guy was creepy but she didn't have the good reflexes to protect herself.

What I have taken out of this is that a 43 year-old man can still attract a 22 year-old woman on dating sites.

You never heard the concepts of sugardaddy and such ? In the US and in Europe, there are dating sites that openly specialize in that type of pairing. In Jaoan, it's the same, just made less obvious. Whatever, that doesn't give the other nutcase any right to force her to stay with him nor abduct her.

Another person falling victim to a dating website weirdo!

You think that if they had met in a bar in Shinjuku; that would have changed the situation ?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What the heck!!! Another person falling victim to a dating website weirdo! I can't work out whether people who use these sites are lonely, desperate or just plain stupid!

No, they are not desperate and certainly not stupid. Meeting someone online for a date is no different from meeting someone at a club, bar or any other place. There are good and bad people just anywhere.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

He sounds like a real keeper!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I won't say she's smart, but she met the guy before, after people spend time with other people they tend to trust eachother, trusting that guy was a mistake, but that could happen to anyone... maybe the guy you have been hanging around with is a psycho, there's no way to tell, im glad she is fine.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

her fault

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Again, the predictable victim blaming - "She shouldn't have....". Maybe, but hindsight is a marvellous thing.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If they guy had shown enough weirdness to trigger her instincts, obviously she wouldn't have gotten into the car.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

How romantic, i see a movie in the future

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@Elizabeth. she made a mistake, undoubtedly, and I think it's more precious to learn from these mistakes and identify what seems like a risky situation than to blindfold yourself out of fear of "victim blaming" and then just let whatever happens happens... You have to note the difference between saying they made a mistake and saying they deserved it. She did not deserve this. No one would. At the same time, she did miss red flags, and the rest of us can learn from this.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I hope the J cpos are beating this guys ass

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Police said Watanabe called the woman, pretending to be one of her friends...

I'm surprised she couldn't tell the difference between creep man's voice and her friend's.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Lack of social interaction and an unhealthy collection of deviant manga. Nothing new here folks!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Welcome to today's edition of "Let's Blame The Victim!"

I hope the young lady is able to recover from this... shocking, truly shocking.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Do not ever blame the victim, especially this one. There is no way she could have prevented this. The weirdo is the only one at fault here. (><) I mean, how many of us could resist going into the car after we realized it was a person we stopped dating because we found them creepy? Victim blaming is wrong. Super wrong. At no point is a victim responsible for their actions.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bound with wire??-Tha wasn't in the Official Shibari Manual! sounds like "Fifty Shades of Stupid" to me!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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