Sunday, April 27, 2008
Financial problems drive Japanese, 61, to hang self
DEPRESSED over his reported dwindling finances, a Japanese national hanged himself inside his rented house in Sitio Dauis, Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City last Friday.
PO2 Leandro Azarcon, homicide investigator, said that Shoji Uemura, 61, was found slumped on a chair with a nylon cord around his neck past 6 p.m.
His death came barely two days after he celebrated his 61st birthday last April 23, Azarcon said.
Same person?
Authorities are checking a report that Uemura could be the same man who was criminally charged in San Fernando, Pampanga for killing his stepson.
The respondent in that case, who reportedly owned an apartment, surrendered to authorities but was released under the custody of his lady lawyer.
Azarcon said that Uemura reportedly tied the cord’s end to an aluminum clip of a jalousie blade and sat with his back against the wall.
Uemura left behind his live-in partner, May Montemayor, 19, of Negros Occidental, and their eight-month old baby boy.
A picture of the infant, two glasses, and a bottle of a half-emptied brandy were found at the scene, Azarcon said.
Lawmen also recovered six suicide notes in English, personal IDs, driver’s license, and Uemura’s passport.
Azarcon said the suicide notes indicate that the Japanese man got terribly depressed because of his financial problem.
House rent
Talks from Montemayor’s relatives said that Uemura failed to pay his P5,000 monthly house rent, he said.
Before he died, Uemura left for Manila but came back visibly depressed a day before his 61st birthday.
The victim was alone in the house when he allegedly killed himself, as Montemayor took their baby to Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City last Friday afternoon.
Returning home past 5 p.m., Montemayor sought the help of barangay authorities because the house’s main door was already locked.
Tanods also reportedly banged the door several times to no avail.
Azarcon said they finally got inside after a relative of Montemayor detached the window’s jalousie blades.
Preliminary investigation showed there was no foul play in Uemura’s death.
Azarcon, who led the responding homicide team, said there was also no sign that another person broke into the house.
The Talisay City Police Station will formally inform the Japanese Embassy on Uemura’s death while it temporarily kept custody of his personal belongings. (GC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 27, 2008 issue)
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