A 49-year-old woman in Japan has been arrested on suspicion of injuring her roommate, who police say had her lips stitched together with a needle and thread. The alleged victim could not speak afterwards, so she begged for help with a handwritten note.
Masae Sakurai, from Koga, was taken into custody on Monday, July 6. Police reports say the 42-year-old woman she shared a home with may have spent close to 24 hours with her mouth sewn shut. Her identity has not been made public.
A note instead of a voice
According to authorities, the incident happened at 1:30pm on June 29. The needle and thread were reportedly passed through the woman’s upper and lower lips several times.
The next day, June 30, she managed to get out of the house. The stitching was so tight that she could not say a word. Instead she wrote a message for an employee at a nearby shop. It said simply: "help me."
Reports say she had been covering her injuries with a face mask, so people she passed would not have seen what had been done to her.
Why she did not run sooner
The woman had moved in with Sakurai in April 2025. Investigators asked why she had not left straight away. She told them she was frightened of her roommate. In her words to police: "I was afraid of Sakurai, so I couldn’t escape right away."
The full extent of her injuries has not been revealed. Officials have confirmed, however, that her life is not in danger.
A house full of people
The investigation is continuing, and police believe other people may have been living in the house alongside the two women. Several of them have already been interviewed.
Reports suggest the home worked as a kind of communal living space. Neighbours said Sakurai first came to the area with a husband described as a foreigner, but he had not been seen for a long time.
People who know Sakurai told Asahi TV that she used her home to shelter people who had fled their own homes. Others reportedly saw her as someone who helped people through hard times, offering many of them a place to stay and even helping them find work.
A former colleague from a restaurant, who reportedly worked with her until February of last year, described her as "skilled at drawing people to her side."
Where things stand
Sakurai is in custody on suspicion of causing injury, and detectives are still trying to build a full picture of what went on inside the house. The accounts of the other residents may prove important in understanding how the household worked and what the victim went through in the days before she escaped.
For now, the main facts are those given by police. A woman was allegedly left unable to speak, found a way to ask for help on paper, and is now said to be out of danger.
Image credit: Youtube
Source: Daily Express US
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