Woman Held for Obstructing Investigation into Abuse of 85-year-old father (Japan)

Woman held for blocking probe into abuse of 85-year-old father
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

TOKYO

A 43-year-old woman in western Tokyo has been arrested after refusing to let municipal officials enter her home to probe suspected abuse of her 85-year-old father, police said Monday. Due to that refusal, Sumie Kishida, an unemployed resident of Nishitokyo, becomes the first person ever arrested for allegedly violating a law aimed at preventing abuse of the elderly, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

After Kishida's arrest, her father was placed in protective custody and hospitalized, where he was listed in weak but not life-threatening condition, police said. Kishida told investigators the police action violates her right to privacy, according to MPD officials.

For years, Nishitokyo officials have tried at the request of Kishida's brother to visit the house and check up on the man's condition. Kishida never allowed the officials into the house.


She also thwarted the city's attempts since last summer to inspect the house on suspicion that Kishida was neglecting her father, according to police.

Kishida's arrest is based on her rejection, without a justifiable reason, of the city's inspection of the house in line with the law against abuse of the elderly, according to the MPD.
According to the city, Kishida piled up garbage at the front door and the bathroom is unusable. Her neighbors repeatedly complained to the city that cats kept at the house were spreading foul odors, officials said.

SOURCE: Japan Today