Stabbed 60 times: Japanese pop idol Mayu Tomita sues police for inaction over obsessed fan, as stalking cases rise in the country
- Tomita is seeking almost US$700,000 in damages over the 2016 attack, which she says happened because police had failed to take her reports seriously
- The lawsuit comes as stalking incidents are on the rise in Japan, where the act is viewed as ‘not really a serious crime’, experts say
Mayu Tomita was 20 years old when she was attacked by 27-year-old Tomohiro Iwazaki as she walked towards a concert venue in a suburb of Tokyo, where she was due to perform as part of the Sold Girls Night in May 2016.
Tomita, now 23, filed her suit on Wednesday at the Tokyo district court, and told reporters she had been spurred to take action because of the conduct of officers before and after the attack.
“I would like police to realise that if they fail to respond adequately, it could result in something similar to what happened to me,” Tomita told the Asahi newspaper.
When I see a person holding a pen, even if it is a friend or my doctor, I become really nervous because I fear I may be stabbed.
In the months before the attack, Iwazaki sent Tomita books and a wristwatch as gifts, but she returned them. He responded by sending her more than 400 threatening Twitter messages, which Tomita reported to police.
