FUKUOKA: A 43-year-old man arrested over the stabbing of a boy at a McDonald’s restaurant in southwestern Japan last month was newly charged on Thursday with the murder of a 15-year-old girl who was also a victim of the attack, police said.
Kyodo News Agency reported that Masanori Hirabaru was served a fresh arrest warrant for allegedly fatally stabbing Saaya Nakashima on Dec 14, 2024, at the fast-food restaurant in Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture while she was waiting to be served along with the 15-year-old boy, they said.
Hirabaru, who lived near the restaurant, was first arrested on Dec 19 on suspicion of attempted murder of the boy, who went to the same school as the girl. The boy sustained severe injuries and was temporarily hospitalised.
The police confiscated several dozen knives after searching Hirabaru’s house and a vehicle and detected the blood of two people on one of them, which analysis showed was not inconsistent with those of Nakashima and the boy, they said.
