Man arrested for killing his probation officer in western Japan

A 35-year-old man was arrested Saturday for allegedly killing a neighbor who served as his probation officer in Otsu, western Japan, in May, police said.

Kohei Iitsuka was on probation after being convicted of theft in 2019. According to Justice Department records, the last time a probation officer was killed by someone he supervised was in 1964 .

Iitsuka denied the allegation, police said.

The victim, 60-year-old Hiroshi Shinjo, had been a volunteer probation officer since 2006. He had supported Iitsuka's rehabilitation and met him at his home in Otsu for interviews.

Shinjo, a restaurant owner, returned home around 6:30 p.m. on May 24 and was scheduled to question Iitsuka there at 7 p.m., police said. A security camera captured the suspect entering through the front door.

An autopsy revealed that Shinjo died the same night, they said. He was stabbed at least 10 times in the upper body.

Iitsuka was arrested on May 28 after he was found in possession of a knife on a street in Otsu late at night, two days after Shinjo's body was found at his home. The suspect then told investigators he had the knife to use while hiking, according to police.

On Saturday, he was the subject of a new arrest warrant for stabbing Shinjo several times in the upper body with a knife, leading to his death, between 7 p.m. on May 24 and 4 p.m. on May 26, a the police said.

In June 2019, the Otsu District Court sentenced Iitsuka to three years in prison, suspended for five years with probation, following an incident in which he pointed a survival knife at an employee of a convenience store and stole money.