A man with tattoos all over his body “was still at the ward office after the crime” and blackmailed the bereaved family.

The man said, “I didn’t do anything that could be called an assault or battery. We were just playing with each other.”

The man is said to deny the charges against him when questioned by the police.

On January 4, 2011, the Osaka Prefectural Police’s Investigation Section 1 arrested Daiki Kusumoto, 32, an unemployed man living in Naka Ward, Sakai City, on suspicion of assault. The suspect Kusumoto had repeatedly beaten and kicked Kenya Karada, then 63, an unemployed man and a neighbor in an apartment building in the same ward.

According to the police, Kusumoto assaulted Mr. Karada, who lived on the fourth floor of the apartment, at least 11 times between October and November 2010. It is believed that he assaulted Ms. Karada on a daily basis at various places, including the hallway of her apartment, the Sakai City Naka Ward Office where Ms. Karada visited for consultation on welfare benefits, and a restaurant.

On the morning of November 21, a ward caseworker visited Ms. Karada’s room, where she lived alone, and pressed the intercom, but received no response. The front door was unlocked, so when they entered the room, they found Ms. Karada lying on her back on the living room floor. The fire department arrived on the scene and immediately confirmed his death.

I’m in charge of his money.

The autopsy revealed that Mr. Karada had bruises all over his body, and his ribs were broken in several places. He was unable to breathe, and is believed to have died in the morning of the 20th, the day before. Kusumoto was acting strangely immediately after the incident.

Before the police arrived, he handed Mr. Karada’s wallet, cash card, and driver’s license to the caseworker who found him first. He said, ‘These are the things I’ve been keeping with me so far.’ When asked about his relationship with Mr. Karada, he is said to have explained. I’m in charge of managing his money. He has no relatives, so I’m managing his money.

On the afternoon of the day Mr. Karada’s body was found, Kusumoto committed a surprising act of blackmail against the bereaved family.

He called Mr. Karada’s brother and relatives to the ward office and threatened to beat them up anytime they didn’t pay their debts, using a shadow-boxing gesture. ‘You have insurance, so pay it back,’ he threatened, even though a ward office official was present.

The suspect is said to have signed and sealed a written pledge that he would not raise any objections to the loan (to lawyers or the police), and to have extorted approximately 120,000 yen in cash from him. Kusumoto was arrested in December on suspicion of extortion. He told the police, ‘It is true that we discussed this at the ward office, but the contents of the letter are different.

It seems that Kusumoto had always been a troubled person. On his Facebook page, he posted a photo of himself with tattoos all over his body. That bitch will never get away with this! I’ll give her hell! I’m gonna kill that bitch! I’m going to kill her in the dark! You better brace yourself!

The police are further investigating the possibility of Kusumoto’s involvement in Karada’s murder.