Police in Japan have arrested an 18-year-old Sri Lankan national on suspicion of murder after a 21-year-old Sri Lankan man was fatally stabbed at a residence in Nagareyama City, Chiba Prefecture.
Both men were international students from Sri Lanka and lived at the same address, police said in remarks reported by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
The stabbing took place at around 10.20 a.m. on Tuesday. Police said the suspect stabbed the older man in the abdomen with a knife, then called emergency services himself. The victim was taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Officers questioned the 18-year-old, who was still at the scene, and arrested him after he admitted to the stabbing. Police said the two were acquaintances.
Suspect’s account
According to police, the suspect told investigators he “snapped” after being called a derogatory term for a gay man, having his mother insulted and being punched.
Japanese police have not released the identities of either man, and the account of what led to the confrontation comes from the suspect’s own statement to investigators rather than from an established finding. Police said the investigation is continuing, including into the sequence of events that preceded the stabbing.
Japan hosts a substantial community of Sri Lankan students and workers, and the country is a long-standing destination for Sri Lankans pursuing higher education and language study.
No Sri Lankan newsroom had independently reported the case at the time of writing, and no statement from Sri Lankan authorities had been published. The account above rests on Japanese police statements as relayed by NHK and Japan Today.
