[Sportschosun Reporter Jang Jong-ho] A woman in her 40s has been arrested by police in Japan on suspicion of injuring a woman she lived with by sewing her lips shut with a needle and thread.
The victim reportedly escaped while the suspect was away from home and sought help at a nearby store.
According to Japanese media outlets, including TBS News, Masae Sakurai, 49, who lives in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, was arrested on the 7th on suspicion of repeatedly sewing the upper and lower lips of a 42-year-old woman she lived with at around 1:30 p.m. on the 29th of last month.
The victim escaped from the house the day after the incident while Sakurai was out and ran to a nearby store, where she showed a note and asked for help.
During police questioning, the victim reportedly said she had started living with Sakurai in April last year and that she "was too scared to run away right away."
A local resident said, "It seemed like several people were coming and going from her house," and added, "She had no interaction with her neighbors."
Police are investigating the circumstances of the assault, as well as the background to how the two came to live together and the motive behind the crime.
Jang Jong-ho, bellho@sportschosun.com
