Photo/Illutration Officials on a boat at Oiso port in Kanagawa Prefecture search for possessions of Teruko Fujiwara on Nov. 3. Police believe she was killed by her husband, Hiroshi. (Tomoko Adachi)

OISO, Kanagawa Prefecture--Police here on Nov. 3 arrested an 81-year-old man on suspicion of murdering his wife, 79, by pushing her into the sea while she was in her wheelchair.

Prefectural police said Hiroshi Fujiwara, from the seaside town of Oiso in the prefecture, has admitted to the allegations.

He said his wife, Teruko, lost the ability to move her legs more than four decades ago, and that he was “tired” of taking care of her, according to police.

Police suspect Fujiwara drove Teruko to Oiso port on Nov. 2 after saying he wanted to go out for a walk. At around 5:30 p.m. that day, while she was in her wheelchair, he pushed her into the water from a paved quay, they said.

A fisherman later spotted a body floating in the sea and reported it to an official at the Oiso municipal government, who then informed police.

At around 7 p.m., the couple’s eldest son, who resides in another area in Oiso, contacted police.
“My father said he pushed my mother (into the sea),” police quoted the son as saying.

A woman who lives in the same apartment complex as the couple expressed surprise over the incident.

“He is friendly and often gave a ride to his wife, who I understand was bed-ridden,” she said. “He was devoted to his wife, and there was nothing to suggest (he could kill her), but I guess he was struggling inside.”

(This article was written by Shinjiro Omiya and Tomoko Adachi.)

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