Police Arrest Two Men in the Murder of Japanese Woman

(1/4/2010)

As reported by balidiscovery.com, a Japanese woman was brutally murdered in Bali on Saturday December 26, 2009 [See: Japanese Woman Murdered in Kuta]

In less than a week after the commission of the crime, Bali police have identified and arrested two men for the murder of Hiromi Shimada (41) but with authorities still trying to identify a motive for the crime.

The Head of the Denpasar Police, Alit Widana, according to Kompas.com, says that the police held strong evidence linking the men arrested to the murder.

Widana said the men arrested knew the Japanese woman and she was killed for personal reasons.

In a separate report in Bertitabali.com, the two men identified as having murdered and raped the woman are two construction workers from Java, Mawaradi, also known as Anto, and Abdurahman, also known as Abdu. The men have reportedly already admitted to the police that the murder took place after a drinking session with the deceased woman and was precipitated by her refusal to have sex with the men.

Anto was arrested at his residence in Kuta while police arrested Abdu in his hometown of Jember in East Java.

Police have entered into evidence a knife used in the murder, clothing, cable use to bind the victim, jewelry, the victim's passport, ATM card and wallet.

An autopsy on the woman's body performed at Bali's Sanglah General Hospital confirmed that she had been stabbed 25 times and bled to death from 6 stab wounds to her stomach.

Hiromi had spent the last 10 years traveling back and forth between Bali and Japan. She had married and divorced Indonesian men twice during that period, giving birth to a child who now lives with her first husband.

At the time of the fatal assault, Hiromi was living alone in cheap rented accommodation in Kuta. According to various reports, the Japanese woman enjoyed a partying life-style marked by bouts of drinking. Her means of support were reportedly monthly remittances of between Rp. 15-20 million (US$1,500 – US$2,000) sent by a relative in Japan. At the time of the death, she was awaiting deportation by immigration authorities scheduled for January 19, 2010, for having overstayed her visa.

Following her death, police interviewed more than 20 persons of interest before making the arrest of the two men.

In September 2009, another Japanese woman, Rika Sono (30), was murdered in Kuta leading to the arrest of a man who has confessed to killing her in a robbery attempt while posing as a policeman.