02-06-2025
Staff member at Saga child welfare facility fatally stabbed
A 55-year-old woman who works at a child welfare facility in Saga City, Saga Prefecture, was fatally stabbed on Saturday.
Police arrested a 28-year-old woman at the scene. The suspect, Mira Hirata, an office worker, was quoted by police as saying, "I don't have any memory (of the incident), so I don't know anything,' NTV reported.
Police said Hirata is accused of stabbing Chie Kawahara at around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday. Another employee at the facility called police and said a woman with a knife had stabbed someone.
Kawahara was taken to hospital, with knife wounds to her arms and chest. She died about 90 minutes later.
Police believe that Hirata went to the facility to see her child who was there.
Hirata was involved in another incident on May 13 when she showed up at another welfare city in Saga City, screaming "Give my child back to me.'
Police detained her under the Mental Health and Welfare Act but authorities determined that there was no need for involuntary hospitalization and handed her over to her family.
© Japan Today
