Senior cop commits suicide after being questioned over stalking woman in Aichi

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 13:05 EDT

NAGOYA — A 52-year-old senior officer of the Aichi prefectural police force committed suicide last week after being questioned twice for allegedly stalking a woman in her 20s, police said Tuesday. The policeman is believed to have sent dozens of emails to her from his mobile phone from late August through early September. In those emails, he asked the woman, who works at a pachinko parlor, to go driving and dining with him and sought her friendship, police sources said.

The policeman was in charge of authorizing the replacement of pachinko machines at pachinko parlors, and the woman visited his station in late August to receive related documents. After receiving a complaint from the woman, the prefectural police department questioned the officer twice in early October. He was found dead on Oct 15 after hanging himself at his home, police said.

In August, a 40-year-old Tokyo policeman allegedly shot and killed a woman and then killed himself after he apparently stalked her for months and feared it would be exposed.

Kyodo