Man admits to stalking and killing ex-girlfriend in Ibaraki

A 29-year-old man on Monday admitted to stalking his ex-girlfriend and killing her in her apartment unit in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, late last year.

In the first hearing for his lay judge trial at the Mito District Court, Takumi Ouchi admitted to the allegations of stalking and murdering Haruka Komatsumoto, a 31-year-old nail artist, after denying the charges during investigations and then refusing to answer questions.

According to indictment documents, Ouchi is accused of murdering Komatsumoto on Dec. 31 by hitting her head multiple times with a hammer and stabbing her neck with a knife. He also loitered around her apartment for days starting on Dec. 28 and secretly installed a tracking tag on her car.

In an opening statement, prosecutors said Komatsumoto told Ouchi that they were breaking up, but he could not accept her decision.

After she blocked his number, he started thinking about killing her so that he could return to the time before the two met and reset his life, according to the prosecutors.

He purchased a Mickey Mouse plush toy, hid a tracking tag in it and sent it to her parents’ house five days before the murder, pretending that she won a lottery campaign. She took it to her apartment unit the following day, allowing him to identify where she lived.

A day before the murder, he bought a hammer and a cap to pose as a delivery person. In the wee hours of the day of the killing, he placed a tracking tag on her car.

He attacked her at the entrance of her apartment after confirming that she had arrived home.

The ruling in the case is scheduled to be handed down on Sept. 30.