A woman victim leaked the horrifying true face of the “violent man” who called her to meet him on her birthday and stabbed her to death….

Why couldn’t the tragedy caused by distorted love be prevented?

On November 29, Wang Lei, 29, a Chinese national with an unknown occupation, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for attempting to kill Nanami Kojima, 24, by stabbing her in the chest and other parts inside an apartment building in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.

Late in the evening of the 29th, police officers from the Kitazawa Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of a fight and found Kojima and Wang walking unsteadily with blood pouring from their chests and stomachs. When the officers questioned the suspect, he admitted that he had stabbed himself with a knife that had fallen at the scene, and was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. On the same day, Kojima was pronounced dead at the hospital where he was taken, so the police have switched their investigation to the murder charge.

Wang told the police, “I stabbed her three or four times. He told the police that he stabbed her three to four times and that he was so angry with her that he couldn’t think straight. He and Kojima had been dating since December 2010, but there were “signs” of an incident at the beginning of this year.

On July 15, Ms. Kojima called 110 to the Ushigome Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to report a problem with the suspect. Kojima reported to the responding officer at the Ushigome police station that she wanted to break up with her boyfriend. On August 12, Ms. Kojima herself visited the Ushigome Police Station to report that she had been attacked by the suspect. The police verbally instructed Wang to stay away from Ms. Kojima in connection with these two incidents. Since then, the police have been in contact with Ms. Kojima every month to confirm her safety.

Ms. Kojima had been troubled by Mr. Oh’s violence, but in her safety confirmation contact with the police, she also said, “I don’t want to upset [Mr. Oh], so I continue to communicate with him. Based on this, the police determined that their dating relationship had not been dissolved and did not issue a warning or restraining order under the Stalking Control Law.

Kojima’s house, the scene of the incident, is located in an alley with few pedestrians. When we spoke to a neighbor, he said, “I have not seen any argument between them. I have never heard of any trouble between them,” he said. A resident who lives in the same apartment building also said that he did not have a relationship with Kojima. With no one nearby to consult, Ms. Kojima continued to have an uneasy relationship with the suspect. Just prior to the incident, she had been sending an SOS message to the police.

In November, Ms. Kojima told the police, “He asked me to meet him on his birthday. I don’t want to meet him. Nine days after this consultation, however, Mr. Kojima was involved in an incident and lost his life. If the police had taken action early on in accordance with the Stalking Control Law, the incident could have been avoided.

It can be imagined that Ms. Kojima was frightened by the persistent approach of the suspect. On the day of the incident, what did Ms. Kojima think when she saw the suspect with a knife in front of her?

The police must be held responsible for the worst possible outcome.