Photo/Illutration Mazuki Takarada is taken to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office from the Aoba Police Station in Yokohama on Oct. 20. (Arisa Inaba)

YOKOHAMA--A suspect in a robbery-murder case here said he took part in the crime because he feared that refusal to follow orders would lead to harm against himself and his family, police said.

Mazuki Takarada, 22, said he became part of the home-invasion gang after being duped into taking the “part-time job.” His boss turned out to be an intimidating criminal mastermind, he told police.

“Halfway through (the job), I knew that I would be committing a crime, but I wasn’t able to refuse because the boss knew my personal information,” police quoted Takarada as saying.

Kanagawa prefectural police arrested Takarada on Oct. 19 on suspicion of conspiring to break into the home. He was sent to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office on Oct. 20.

The suspect, a self-employed man who lives in the Kioroshi district of Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, said he committed the crime with two other men whom he had not met before.

According to police, Takarada and others broke into the house in Yokohama’s Aoba Ward, where they beat and bound 75-year-old resident Hiroharu Goto. His body was found in the home on the morning of Oct. 16.

Around 200,000 yen ($1,340) in cash, a necklace and several other valuable items worth about 300,000 yen were stolen from the house, police said.

According to prefectural police, Takarada “was looking for a part-time job for a quick paycheck because he was several hundreds of thousands of yen in arrears on his tax payments.”

Through social media, he applied for a “white job,” which implied legitimate and non-exploitative work. Trusting his potential employer, Takarada provided his personal information, including showing his identification card, through a highly anonymous app to the boss.

After that, he received orders from the boss to drive to Goto’s house in his own car.

“I felt I couldn’t reject the order because I was worried that my family would be harmed,” Takarada told police.

According to a family member, Takarada had been working six days a week at a painting job.

“I still cannot believe the arrest. He is warmhearted,” the family member said. “If he really did it, I’m truly sorry for the bereaved family.”

The fatal break-in at Goto’s house is believed to be connected to a string of home robberies committed around the Tokyo metropolitan area since late August.

At Goto’s house, investigators found the fingerprints of Shu Fujii, a 26-year-old suspected of breaking into a house in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, assaulting a woman there, and abducting her.

Fujii, whose residence and occupation are unknown, was arrested after the woman was rescued at a hotel in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture.

A joint investigation headquarters, including Kanagawa and Chiba prefectural police, believe Fujii took part in the Goto incident in Yokohama, in addition to the home invasion in Ichikawa.

(This article was written by Arisa Inaba and Jun Sugie.)

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