FUKUSHIMA -- Fukushima Prefectural Police on April 3 served a fresh arrest warrant to a 36-year-old man on suspicion of kidnapping a minor, penetrative sexual assault and attempted assisted suicide involving an underage girl he met through social media.

The latest arrest of Hiroki Kishinami, an unemployed resident of the city of Fukushima, stems from allegations that he indecently assaulted the then minor who resides in the prefecture, and tried to help her commit suicide by using briquettes in the mountains of the prefecture's city of Kitakata on July 1, 2024. He reportedly denied parts of the charges.

According to the prefectural police, Kishinami allegedly invited the girl, who had hinted at suicidal thoughts on social media, to "commit suicide together." He reportedly picked her up in a light passenger car in the city of Koriyama and drove to the mountains, where he attempted to assist her suicide by burning briquettes inside a tent. However, the girl asked to stop and was driven back to Koriyama. The case came to light after the girl reported the incident to the prefectural police's Koriyama Police Station.

Kishinami had been previously arrested in January for allegedly assisting the suicide of a woman in her 20s from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, whom he also met through social media, and was later charged with assisted suicide. In February, he was served a fresh arrest warrant on suspicion of helping a man in his 20s from Miyagi Prefecture and another man under 20 from Saitama Prefecture to commit suicide.

The Fukushima Prefectural Police, in cooperation with other prefectural police, are carefully conducting their investigation, including analysis of the suspect's communication history, with the belief he may have been involved in the suicides of several people outside the prefecture as well.

(Japanese original by Koki Matsumoto, Fukushima Bureau)

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