Threatened to “keep your voice down! The cab driver “stole cash from a woman in her 20s and sexually assaulted her.

The man showed the woman a kitchen knife he was carrying and threatened her.

Don’t make a sound!　Do you have any money?

The man is alleged to have robbed the woman of her cash and sexually assaulted her in a locked room.

On April 4, Yohei Fukuda, 33, a cab driver in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Investigation Division 1 on suspicion of robbery, sexual intercourse without consent, and breaking and entering. He has admitted to the investigation that he has no doubt about the charges.

The victim is a woman in her 20s, Ms. A, who lives in Adachi Ward. According to the police, at around 4:00 a.m. on April 2, the suspect entered Ms. A’s room on the third floor of her apartment. He used a hammer to break the glass of the balcony window, unlocked the door, and entered the room.

Fukuda threatened Ms. A, who was sleeping on her bed, saying, “Don’t make a sound! and robbed her of 20,000 yen in cash. This is not the only crime he is suspected of committing. The two were never acquainted with each other.

(A reporter from a national newspaper) “He thought that if he assaulted her, he would not be reported.

After being victimized, Mr. A consulted the police together with his family. From security camera footage, Fukuda emerged as the assailant. Fukuda is said to have made the following statement to the police.

I had borrowed money from a friend and was in need of money. （I thought that if I assaulted him (sexually), he would not report me to the police.

A photographer for this magazine photographed Fukuda being sent to the police station on April 5. He got into the convoy with his shoulders slumped and his face slumped.

Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa explains.

He said, “They deliberately targeted a woman who lived on the third floor of the apartment, not on the first floor. Even though the suspect did not know her, he must have been aware of the fact that a young woman lived there while he was working in his cab or on his way home. We sense a strong plan to prepare hammers and knives and assault the woman to prevent her from calling the police. The crime was extremely malicious, robbing the woman of her cash and injuring her.

Women who live alone in apartments or condominiums should not feel safe just because they live on the third floor or higher. I think further measures are necessary, such as locking the front door and balcony, as well as installing security film to increase the strength of the windows.”

The police are investigating Fukuda’s motive for attacking Ms. A and the detailed circumstances leading up to the crime.