SAITAMA (TR) – A 53-year-old man in custody for abandoning the physique of a feminine acquaintance at his condo in Niiza City earlier this 12 months has been additional accused of stalking the sufferer, studies NHK (Feb. 25).
On January 9, police investigating the disappearance of Sanae Yamamoto, 51, discovered her physique within the condo of Arata Yamaguchi, 53, Niiza City. Police then accused Yamaguchi of abandoning a corpse.
Yamaguchi admitted to the costs throughout questioning. He additionally made statements implicating that he had murdered her.
In the newest growth, police on February 25 additional accused Yamaguchi of illegally acquiring the Yamamoto’s location info utilizing a GPS machine put in on her automobile.
Police consider the suspect ambushed and kidnapped Yamamoto based mostly on the GPS info.
According to the police, he has remained silent throughout questioning on suspicion of violating the Stalking Prevention Act.
“Where have you been?”
The act of acquiring different folks’s location info with out their permission utilizing GPS units grew to become unlawful below the Stalking Prevention Act, which was revised in 2021.
According to the National Police Agency, the variety of consultations concerning this kind of stalking reached 513 nationwide final 12 months and is growing 12 months by 12 months.
Hidetaka Wakaume is a detective at an company in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward that has been seeing a rise in consultations.
The detective says, “Many stalkers use GPS to identify their victim’s home. The next most common reason is to understand their behavioral patterns, such as whether they are at work or out with someone on their days off. The stalker will then appear before the victim. In pretending it is a coincidence, they’ll ask, ‘Where have you been?’”
Underside of a automobile
According to Wakaume, the most typical place to connect a GPS machine is the underside of a automobile with a magnet or adhesive tape.
Acquaintances or former companions who’ve been given rides by the victims prior to now typically cover them within the trunk or below the seats, says Wakaume.
In the homicide of a lady in Ibaraki Prefecture final 12 months, police consider the suspect realized her location by hiding a GPS machine inside a present despatched to her mother and father.
Last December, the Stalking Prevention Act newly banned the attachment of small “air tags” to baggage and different objects with out permission.
Wakaume says, “This [method] could lead to a dangerous situation, such as your location being revealed, which could result an ambush. If you have any concerns, please contact the police.”