Hikikomori shut-in accused of leaving corpse of mother in residence
By Tokyo Reporter Staff on December 21, 2020
TOCHIGI (TR) – Tochigi Prefecture Police have arrested a 52-year-old man living a shut-in existence after the discovery of the body of his mother in their residence in Utsunomiya City, reports the
Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 18).
Mamoru Handa allegedly left the corpse of his mother, 85-year-old Toshiko, at the residence between her death in late November and December 17.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse on December 18, Handa admitted to the allegations. “I didn’t know what to do,” the suspect told the Utsunomiya-Higashi Police Station.
Man arrested for keeping mother’s body at home Dec. 20, 2020 06:00 am JST Dec. 20, 2020 | 06:31 am JST TOCHIGI
Police in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, have arrested a 52-year-old unemployed man after he failed to report the death of his 85-year-old mother and kept her body at home.
Police said Mamoru Handa told them his mother Toshiko died of natural causes in late November, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police quoted him as saying he was at a loss and didn’t know what to do or who to turn to for help, so he left the body in the living room.
Police said both Toshiko and her son had been receiving welfare benefits. When a city welfare official visited their house on Dec 17, he found the body.