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This is an archive article published on July 5, 2011
Japanese man admits raping,strangling Briton
A Japanese man admitted in court to raping and strangling a young British woman,but the man who attempted cosmetic surgery.
A Japanese man admitted in court Monday to raping and strangling a young British woman,but the man who attempted cosmetic surgery on his own face to evade a nationwide manhunt said he never meant to kill the 22-year-old.
Tatsuya Ichihashi is charged with murdering English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker at his apartment in 2007. The case became one of Japans highest-profile murders after Hawkers body was found in a dirt-filled bathtub on the balcony of Ichihashis apartment.
At the opening of his trial on Monday,Ichihashi said,as Hawkers father looked on,I did not intend to kill her,but I am responsible for her death.
Hawker,of Brandon,England,was in Japan to teach English. She worked as an instructor at a language school,and agreed to give Ichihashi a lesson on the side.
After the lesson Ichihashi persuaded Hawker to go back to his apartment in Ichikawa City,where the crimes occurred. Ichihashi evaded police for over two years. In a book published after his arrest in 2009,Ichihashi described how he scissored off his lower lip,dug two moles out of his cheek and gave himself a nose job to obscure his identity. These attempts eventually led to his arrest,after the staff at a clinic where he had surgery on his nose became suspicious and reported him.
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