The Fukuoka District Court on Monday sentenced a former female nurse to six months in prison, suspended for three years, for removing the toenails of two elderly patients at a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture in 2007. Prosecutors had sought a 10-month imprisonment for Satomi Ueda, 42, arguing that she caused the two female patients to bleed by clipping their toenails too deep with a nail clipper and such an act ‘‘is not considered proper treatment.’’
Ueda was fired by Kitakyushu Yahata Higashi Hospital in Kitakyushu after the incidents, and according to prosecutors, made false reports to doctors and the patients’ families. Her defense lawyer had claimed that the defendant had no intention of causing the bleeding and there were no problems from a medical standpoint arising from the internal bleeding observed in the patients. According to a complaint filed with the court, Ueda removed the right big toenail of an 89-year-old patient and removed the right big and middle toenails of a 70-year-old, both in June 2007.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Man arrested for fatally stabbing girlfriend in Tokyo apartment
A 24-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, accused of stabbing his 25-year-old girlfriend in the apartment they shared in Nerima Ward.
Police said Ken Shiobara, a part-time employee, called emergency services just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, saying he had stabbed a woman. Officers from the Hikarigaoka police station rushed to the apartment, and found a woman bleeding from wounds to her back and other places, lying on the floor. Shiobara was sitting nearby with a knife beside him.
The woman was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Shiobara admitted to stabbing his girlfriend, telling police they got into an argument and he lost control.
84-year-old woman apprehends 22-year-old burglar in Fukuoka
A 22-year-old man was arrested for theft on Sunday, accused of stealing a bag containing roughly 140,000 yen from the living room of a home in Fukuoka City. The suspect was apprehended by the home owner’s 84-year-old mother.
Police said Katsunori Kuruhara, 22, an unemployed resident of Fukuoka City, is accused of entering the home at around 10.30 a.m. Sunday morning, taking the bag from the living room. He was on his way out of the home, when Kimiko Nagamitsu, 84, stopped him in the kitchen.
Kuruhara was carrying an iron bar, and told Nagamitsu he was selling them, but she wouldn’t have a bar of it, grabbed both his arms and took him outside. Her 27-year-old granddaughter, who was in her bedroom on the second floor, heard the commotion and called police. Kuruhara was arrested at the scene and admitted to the allegations, police said.
Police said Nagamitsu, who is only 144 centimeters tall, was not injured in the incident. She was quoted as saying: “I wasn’t scared. I thought he might come back, or rob someone else, so I thought I’d better stop him.”
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Court rejects 'Kimigayo' suit by 172 teachers who refused to stand up
TOKYO —
The Tokyo District Court rejected on Thursday a damages suit filed by 172 Tokyo public school teachers, who claimed it is unconstitutional to punish them as they refused to stand up in front of the Hinomaru flag in singing the ‘‘Kimigayo’’ anthem at school ceremonies.
The order to do so ‘‘may go against the plaintiffs’ freedom of thought and conscience, but it is rational to ask the plaintiffs as public servants to engage in uniform activities at school ceremonies,’’ Presiding Judge Shigeru Nakanishi said, determining the court sees no unconstitutionality and illegality in the punishments on them.
Most of the plaintiffs have joined another lawsuit, in which the district court ruled in September 2006 that the metropolitan government and its education board cannot force teachers to sing ‘‘Kimigayo’’ in front of the Japanese flag or reprimand them for refusing to do so as such acts are infringements on freedom of thought guaranteed under the Constitution. The suits were filed after the local authorities issued a controversial notice in October 2003 demanding that public school employees stand and sing the national anthem in front of the Japanese flag during entrance and graduation ceremonies at schools.
The Tokyo District Court rejected on Thursday a damages suit filed by 172 Tokyo public school teachers, who claimed it is unconstitutional to punish them as they refused to stand up in front of the Hinomaru flag in singing the ‘‘Kimigayo’’ anthem at school ceremonies.
The order to do so ‘‘may go against the plaintiffs’ freedom of thought and conscience, but it is rational to ask the plaintiffs as public servants to engage in uniform activities at school ceremonies,’’ Presiding Judge Shigeru Nakanishi said, determining the court sees no unconstitutionality and illegality in the punishments on them.
Most of the plaintiffs have joined another lawsuit, in which the district court ruled in September 2006 that the metropolitan government and its education board cannot force teachers to sing ‘‘Kimigayo’’ in front of the Japanese flag or reprimand them for refusing to do so as such acts are infringements on freedom of thought guaranteed under the Constitution. The suits were filed after the local authorities issued a controversial notice in October 2003 demanding that public school employees stand and sing the national anthem in front of the Japanese flag during entrance and graduation ceremonies at schools.
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